Room 108
by Keki186
Summary: AU: Regina Mills wakes up in a room where she finds her own body covered in blood. She embarks on an impossible mission: solving her murder. Although she's dead, she is still among the living but no one sees or hears her. Or so she thinks...
1. Sneak Peek

_**A/N: This is my newest story. It's an AU based on a Belgian tv show Beau Séjour and OUAT. Although I changed a couple of things it will contain spoilers for Beau Séjour (which will be available on Netflix soon) so it's up to you whether you want to read this story or not.**_

 _ **Watching the show I immediately thought about making it a SwanQueen AU and so I did. This is only a sneak peek, so tell me what you think and if you are interested in reading the rest...**_

 _ **Characters that will certainly make an appearance: Regina Mills, Emma Swan, Ruby Lucas, Belle French, Zelena, Mr. Gold, Killian Jones, Robin Hood, Sarah Fisher (Snow Queen), Keith Nottingham, Maleficent, Leopold, Albert Spencer (King George), Cora & Henry Mills Sr. **_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**_

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Regina Mills woke with a start, a sharp intake of breath the only noise she made. Her eyes might be open but she needed to blink a couple of times before her vision was clear. Her head felt heavy like she was experiencing a major hangover, she slowly sat up trying to take in as much of her surroundings as her hazy state allowed. She was in a bedroom that much was evident since she had been lying on a bed yet she didn't recognize whose room it was. She didn't remember ever being here. As a matter of fact she didn't even remember how she got here...

She tried to think what the last thing was she could remember but everything was rather blurry. A party of some kind... darkness... faces... lights... everything passed by in a rapid succession making her queasy. Thinking also caused a slight headache so she stopped and tried to focus again on the room she was in. It smelled strange like fresh paint; she slowly moved her head - in order not to aggravate her headache even more - and noticed the room was covered in plastic tarp. She steadily moved to the end of the bed, put her feet on the ground and gradually stood up. Something in the bathroom caught her attention but her view was blocked by more plastic tarp.

Making her way over to the bathroom and moving the tarp cautiously out of the way she was shocked by what she saw; she jumped back a little and gasped. Her heart was racing, her breathing irregular - even painful and it felt like she was about to faint. She grasped her collar and pulled in an effort to make breathing easier but it didn't work. She swallowed and took a deep breath before making her way over to the tarp again. Steadying herself for what she had seen only a couple of moments ago she moved it out of the way, hoping her eyes had been deceiving her.

But they hadn't... the bathroom wasn't completely finished and apart from a bathtub and a washing table there wasn't anything else in the small room. The bathtub however wasn't empty, in it was more tarp and on that tarp lay a young woman in her early twenties with dark hair. The woman was naked and lifeless, bleeding from hidden wounds on her head. Regina's hand unconsciously reached for her own head where she felt a wet and sticky substance; although she knew what she had touched she brought her fingers to her eyes to confirm that it was indeed blood.


	2. Waking Up

_**A/N: Disclaimer and info in the Sneak Peek. This is the first chapter.**_

 _ **Enjoy!  
**_

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Regina Mills woke with a start, a sharp intake of breath the only noise she made. Her eyes might be open but she needed to blink a couple of times before her vision was clear. Her head felt heavy like she was experiencing a major hangover, she slowly sat up trying to take in as much of her surroundings as her hazy state allowed. She was in a bedroom that much was evident since she had been lying on a bed, yet she didn't recognize whose room it was. She didn't remember ever being here. As a matter of fact she didn't even remember how she got here...

She tried to think what the last thing was she could remember but everything was rather blurry. A party of some kind... darkness... faces... lights... everything passed by in a rapid succession making her queasy. Thinking also caused a slight headache so she stopped and tried to focus again on the room she was in. It smelled strange like fresh paint; she slowly moved her head - in order not to aggravate her headache even more - and noticed the room was covered in plastic tarp. She steadily moved to the end of the bed, put her feet on the ground and gradually stood up. Something in the bathroom caught her attention but her view was blocked by more plastic tarp.

Making her way over to the bathroom and moving the tarp cautiously out of the way she was shocked by what she saw; she jumped back a little and gasped. Her heart was racing, her breathing irregular - even painful and it felt like she was about to faint. She grasped her collar and pulled in an effort to make breathing easier but it didn't work. She swallowed and took a deep breath before making her way over to the tarp again. Steadying herself for what she had seen only a couple of moments ago she moved it out of the way, hoping her eyes had been deceiving her.

But they hadn't... the bathroom wasn't completely finished and apart from a bathtub and a washing table there wasn't anything else in the small room. The bathtub however wasn't empty, in it was more tarp and on that tarp lay a young woman in her early twenties with dark hair. The woman was naked and lifeless, bleeding from hidden wounds on her head. Regina's hand unconsciously reached for her own head where she felt a wet and sticky substance; although she knew what she had touched she brought her fingers to her eyes to confirm that it was indeed blood.

She was overcome with the most sickening feeling she had ever experienced. Her heart racing even harder, so hard in fact that she feared she was about to have a heart attack. Until she realized that the very thought of having a heart attack was ridiculous because the body in the bathtub was unquestionably her body.

A noise startled her, she wasn't alone and though she didn't fully comprehend what was going on there was no time to dwell on it. She did the only thing that made sense to her, she ran from the room as fast as her legs could take her. Only slowing down when she was safely outside room 108, the door told her, then she quickly and without hesitation made her way outside. Safe and sound outside she looked back to the dark and almost empty building behind her. Having lived her whole life in Darkton she immediately recognized the place, it used to be a small hotel but recently it was under new ownership, being renovated and turned into a B&B.

Regina decided to go home without delay.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry Mills had woken up early, it was Saturday and the town was busy hosting a local BMX championship and the complementary festivities that surrounded such an event, in other words the local youth was busy going from one party to the next the entire weekend. He smiled to himself, briefly remembering what it had been like; it seemed so long ago now. Henry was a 45 year old high school teacher, divorced and remarried, currently living with his new wife and their three children. His own daughter, Regina and his wife's children, Zelena and Sebastian. Zelena and Regina were similar in age but that was about it, they were mostly civil around each other lately but they hadn't started out that way. When they first moved in almost six years ago there had been a lot of discussions and fights between the two girls.

Sebastian, the youngest, had been a lot more easygoing. At first he had acted rather cold towards Regina but she helped him a lot with his homework, something his other sister never did, therefore he had slowly started to appreciate his brunette sister. Speaking of Sebastian, making his way to the kitchen Henry heard the distinct noises of his stepson playing on his Playstation in the living room. Upon entering the kitchen the teacher noticed someone had left open the fridge. "Sebastian, the fridge door!" he yelled to the teenage boy in the other room.

"It was already open." Sebastian yelled back, "Probably the girls."

Henry rolled his eyes wondering why on earth the teenager hadn't just closed it when he noticed the door was open but he quickly realized it was probably typical teenage behavior. He grabbed a cup of coffee after closing the fridge door and made his way into the living room, "Have you seen or heard your sisters yet?"

Without looking up from the screen or even pausing the game Sebastian replied, "Nah, they're probably still in bed. They came home pretty late and I guess they were rather drunk."

Henry had figured as much, he knew how he had been in his early twenties when the BMX championship was being held. BMX was a very popular sport around these parts; every parent dreamed their kid would become the best of the best. And since it had become an Olympic discipline the odds had only increased. The entire town or at least that was how it sometimes felt, attended the races. Regina was actually becoming pretty good at it, but it was mostly a male dominated sport which meant she couldn't make a living from it in contrast with the young men. Henry, nevertheless, was proud of his daughter and attended most of her races even though there was a lot less appreciation from the crowd for the women's competition.

The BMX championship wasn't the only event this weekend; the archery club was having their annual celebration known as the Archer Fest. This was where things really got crazy, most people attending didn't return home until they were very, very drunk. The archery range was not that far from the racing tracks which meant it was even busier in Darkton than it ever was in a town as small as this one.

He sipped from his cup and decided to check up on the girls, he would not admit it out loud but he was a bit worried since he hadn't received a single message from Regina. Normally she texted to let him know everything was okay but checking his phone again he saw he still hadn't received anything. Henry rubbed his temple, he had enjoyed a couple glasses of wine last night but he wasn't a heavy drinker but for some reason he felt hung-over.

He made his way over to Regina's bedroom and immediately noticed the door was ajar. Not something that alarmed him straight away because she could have just forgotten in her drunken state. He moved towards the door and apprehensively peeked inside. He didn't really like to invade his daughter's privacy but he had a gloomy feeling. The feeling only got stronger when he noticed the empty bed. He promptly made his way over to Zelena's room and knocked on her door, some grumbling was his only response. He knocked again and announced his presence before entering her bedroom.

He nudged her feet and asked, "Zelena, where's Regina?"

More grumbling... So he tried again a little louder this time, "Zelena, please I'm worried. Do you know where Regina is?"

"Erm... don't know... with Leo?" The young woman wasn't entirely awake and it was difficult to understand her mumbled words.

Karen, Henry's wife, who was also awake and had heard the worry in her husband's words quickly made her way over to Zelena's bedroom. She sat down next to the sleeping form of her daughter and shook her shoulders waking her up entirely. "Honey, do you know where Regina is?"

Zelena rolled her eyes at her mother, not really getting what their problem was. "No, she's probably with Leo, her boyfriend... you know." She said indignantly, silently cursing their over-protectiveness, vowing she would never become that kind of parent.

"Are you sure, honey?" Zelena only shrugged, not really convincing Henry but he didn't want to badger her any longer. He left both women and returned downstairs. Karen smiled at her daughter and asked if she was interested in a cup of coffee and something to eat. Zelena nodded eagerly, coffee really sounded tempting.

Karen went downstairs to talk to her husband and to try to comfort him. When she entered the living room she saw Henry pacing; she asked him if he had called Leo yet. Which he had but his phone was turned off. Karen also asked him if he'd called Cora, his ex. Henry smiled at her and quickly dialed Cora's number.

"Cora, have you seen Regina?" he asked without preamble.

 _"No, I haven't. Wasn't she staying with you?"_

Henry's hopes deflated instantly, this was not looking good. Where was his daughter? He quickly ended the call not wanting to talk to Cora unless absolutely necessary. They were civil but not really on friendly terms. He didn't need to tell Karen that Regina wasn't at Cora's, the dejected look on his face made that obvious.

~~~oOo~~~

Something was sniffing Regina's head and ... licking it! She quickly opened her eyes staring up in the face of a rather large dog. Not knowing how she had ended up on the ground or where she was, she quickly scrambled to her feet and realized she was in the forest on the outskirts of town. She figured she had probably fainted because of her head wound. The dog started barking playfully and she moved even further back. The dog's owner walked up to them.

"Ma'am, can you help me please?" Regina asked in a small voice but got no reaction from the woman.

The woman petted her dog and fastened his leash before walking away from Regina without giving her a second glace. "Hey, I need help, please!" Regina yelled after her. "Why are you leaving me? Heeey!" the brunette's voice became louder and louder and she frantically waved her arms at the woman hoping to get her attention but to no avail. The dog and its owner were too far away now.

Regina dropped her arms sadly and kicked a pine cone in front of her angrily. What was wrong with that woman, why hadn't she helped her? The wounded woman didn't understand and decided to continue her way home.

~~~oOo~~~

Cora was in the cafeteria of the local BMX club, as treasurer it was her job to supervise the ticket sales. The place was already buzzing with people, eager to get their tickets for the afternoon championship races. She placed the plastic beer cup to her lips and realized it was already empty. She briefly wondered if it was still too early in the day to get her second beer - or was it her third? - before making her way over to the bar and ordering another one.

She relished the bitter taste of the beer in her mouth before taking another gulp and making her way over to the table where the tickets were sold. The young women selling them were doing an excellent job and Cora couldn't be happier. Since the strange phone call she had received from Henry, she was worried about their daughter and where she might be. Regina liked to party but she was always rather responsible and never made her parents worry about her whereabouts.

Cora didn't want to believe it but the thought that something bad might have happened crossed her mind again for the umpteenth time in only a couple of hours. She ordered another beer and downed it almost entirely in one big gulp. The alcohol burned its way through her esophagus before settling in her stomach, her head felt a lot lighter and she swayed slightly on her feet. She loved the effect it had on her body, it also eased her worrying somewhat. The sound from the numerous people in the small cafeteria drifting to the background, Cora stared into the distance not really seeing anything.

Zelena, one of the women selling tickets, tried to get her attention failing miserably thus she made her way over and placed a hand on Cora's shoulder. Barely reacting to the touch, she slowly looked at the redhead giving her a nod instead of actually asking her what she wanted.

"Can I take a break, please? I want to talk to Leo before the race." Zelena asked.

Still not verbally acknowledging the girl, Cora just shrugged and faintly nodded her head in the affirmative. Zelena smiled at Cora and quickly made her way outside. But not before promising Ashley, the other ticket seller, that she wouldn't be long.

There were already a lot of people on the grounds outside, picking the best spot to watch from. Some had brought their own folding chairs because it was still a couple of hours before the first 'time trial' heats would start but that didn't keep the eager spectator from being early. She walked past all of them, quickly slipping behind the tape stretched around the area where the racers, their trailers and their gear were. Only authorized personnel were allowed behind the tape but because she was well-known as Regina's stepsister, nobody minded her.

She spotted Leo's trailer and saw the young man getting ready, he was partially dressed in only his racing trousers. His racing jersey was flung over a chair standing next to him leaving his muscular chest bare. Zelena took a moment to appreciate his beauty before announcing her presence. Leo was checking the tire pressure of his BMX and other things he needed to check before the race.

Zelena coughed, startled he snapped up his head. Upon seeing Zelena he looked displeased and Zelena's smile faltered. She had been expecting a warmer welcome, especially since there was something between them. But seeing as he was dating her sister they had never acted upon it.

"Hi," she said tentatively, "Do you know where Regina is?"

"How the hell should I know?" he snapped back, a profound scowl on his face.

Zelena was momentarily bewildered, "I don't know, maybe because she is your _girlfriend_." She carefully pronounced the words as if she was talking to a mentally challenged person.

"Not anymore, she dumped me last night. So again, how should I know?" he said, but didn't really sound bothered by it. He wasn't glad either, just indifferent.

Zelena didn't have an answer; the news was surprising to her. Although she never believed they were right for each other, she hadn't expected Regina to break things off with Leo all of a sudden. She just shrugged at a loss for words.

Leo however wasn't, "What are you even doing here? You know you shouldn't be." He still sounded rather irritated for some reason; Zelena didn't like this mood but didn't comment on it. "Please, leave! I have to prepare myself." His tone had softened somewhat but the redhead still wasn't too happy with his request.

Finding her words again, she said, "Okay, who crapped in your cereal this morning?"

He sighed, "I'm sorry, it's just the nerves... I shouldn't treat you like this."

"No, you shouldn't. But I understand, you're under a lot of pressure. I'll see you later?" Zelena asked unsure, waiting until Leo nodded his head before making her way over to the cafeteria again. She'd expected things to go differently, her cheerfulness had yet to return to her.

~~~oOo~~~

Kathryn was stabbing some paper cups and other papers scattered around the terrain with her trash picker. Discarding it in the trash bag she was also carrying. She sighed heavily when she looked at how much of the terrain she still had to do and it looked like the other volunteers were hardly helpful. She yelled at them, "The terrain doesn't clean itself you know! Maybe you could make yourselves useful and clean up some trash as well!"

Most of them just rolled their eyes not making any efforts to help Kathryn. The blonde didn't understand, she had been at the party as well yesterday but it seemed the youngsters were all extremely hung-over compared to how she was feeling. Kathryn was in her twenties, didn't go to college so she had to work on weekdays but still she volunteered to help at the Archer Fest. She wondered why the teens currently helping her had, since they were barely moving making her do all the work.

"You tell them, Kathryn!" She heard Mr. Gold's, the village idiot's voice behind her.

 _Great just what I needed_ she thought. Now it was her turn to roll her eyes, she forced a smile on her face before turning towards him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Gold. Nice day for a walk isn't it?" she said while gesturing towards his rather large dog.

He didn't return the smile. He knew what people thought of him, that he was a fool but he knew better. For instance he noticed the smile on Kathryn's face was fake. He wondered why most people treated him like he was dense, probably because they didn't believe he had a gift. He was able to see things other people didn't; this gift wasn't his choice he just realized one day he was gifted with physic powers.

He didn't answer her question either, he just nodded. It was windy and it looked like it might rain later on so he wasn't going to pretend it was a nice day. E.T., his dog, caught his attention when he jerked on his leash eager to get to something lying on the ground. Gold thought it was some discarded food or vomit from one of the partygoers and tried to contain E.T. but the Irish wolfhound wasn't easily held back. The old man had no other choice than to follow and immediately saw the big wrench his dog was trying to get to. "Hey hey," he yelled at Kathryn, "There's a wrench on the ground here! There's blood on it!"

Kathryn just waved him off, ignoring his statement. "I will get it later."

"But there's blood on it, didn't you hear?" Gold asked huffily.

Kathryn just shrugged and Gold shook his head and said to himself, "And they call me an idiot, anyone with eyes can see that that's blood!" He took a plastic bag from his pocket and put his hand inside, however he didn't use it to scoop the poop of E.T. instead he bent down and picked up the wrench never touching it with his bare hands. "Come, E.T., let's get this to the police."

Kathryn shook her head a little when she saw him bagging the wrench but quickly returned her attention to the garbage she was picking up. The young volunteers had finally somewhat understood that they needed to help her instead of just hanging around. She smiled to herself, hoping they would be done quickly.

~~~oOo~~~

Emma Swan woke up slowly; she glanced around her bedroom and groaned. She turned on her other side and pulled the covers over her head. She had no intention of getting out of bed. She was slightly hung-over but not from drinking too much alcohol just from staying up too late and attending the stupid festivities in town.

She hated being back but at the same time it beat being locked up with therapists breathing down her neck 24/7. She glanced at the clock and realized halfheartedly that her foster mother would come to check up on her in a couple of moments. It was time for her medication and Sarah Fisher had always been a punctual woman.

Like clockwork there was a knock on her door before it was being opened completely to reveal the blonde woman smiling happily at Emma. "Hey sweetie, time to get up."

Emma peeked with one eye from beneath her covers at Sarah and smiled, she liked the woman a lot. Their bond was strong; Sarah always gave her the impression that she was her own child. The same could not be said for her foster father, Keith Nottingham, unfortunately. He was the town's sheriff and crooked as they came, or at least that was what Emma's gut told her because she had no knowledge of any clandestine things going on around town. She couldn't have since she had been away for 8 months, 8 long months. But everything was better now, she was better, healed.

"Do I have to?" Emma whined, still not shifting her position.

Sarah smiled sympathetically before answering, "You have to eat something." Leaving out the part about Emma's medicine, knowing full well the young blonde didn't need to be reminded every single day. "Besides, it's a beautiful day and I want you to come to the races with me."

Hearing this Emma groaned loudly, covering her head entirely with the blanket again. "Please, don't make me...!"

The muffled words were barely comprehensible but Sarah knew Emma so she didn't need to understand them to know that Emma didn't want to go. And she really hated the fact that she had to force her daughter to get out there, but her therapist had said that it was important for Emma to socialize and go outside as often as possible. "Would you do it for me, please? Otherwise I will be alone and I would really like to spend some time with you."

Hearing the plea in Sarah's words moved Emma into action; she rolled onto her stomach and faced her foster mother, "Isn't Sheriff going with you? And besides everyone will look weirdly at me and ask silly questions."

Sarah replied affectionately, "Oh honey, we will just tell them you wanted to travel a bit and you just got back. I know you don't like these things but you know how your father gets; he'll leave me the moment we set foot on the racing grounds."

Emma knew this; of course Keith wasn't going to stay with his wife, not when Leo was one of the racers. He always acted more of a father to him than he ever did towards Emma. Leo was Keith's nephew and his protégé, being a former racer himself. He let no opportunity go to waste to remind Emma how much of a failure she was compared to Leo. Emma and her foster dad did not get along one bit, the feeling was mutual but somehow Sarah refused to see this. Or she did see it and tried to somehow change this.

"So how was it in Timbuktu?" Sarah asked upon seeing the small nod the blonde gave her telling Sarah she would accompany her.

Emma tried to scowl but an ear splitting grin made the scowl ineffective, she absolutely adored this woman and her ability to always know what to say and do to alleviate her bad mood. Emma got out of bed and dressed in only her boxers and a tank top she followed Sarah out of her bedroom and into the kitchen to enjoy their 'breakfast'.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry still hadn't heard from Regina and was beyond anxious, something bad had surely happened because there was no way his normally responsible daughter would have waited this long to A) come home and B) not call to inform her parents of her whereabouts. She had never done this, not even as a teenager, this definitely didn't make sense. And the more he thought about it, the more fretful he became. He only hoped she wasn't suffering too badly or worse...

Karen saw her husband's troubled frame pace up and down the living room with his phone pressed to his ear. He had been calling Regina and Cora nonstop for the last 30 minutes. Neither of them had answered or bothered to call him back. After his umpteenth unanswered call he groaned and almost threw his phone angrily away but at the last possible moment he realized that would be very unwise thus made an awkward throwing movement with his arm but the phone stayed firmly clutched in his hand.

His wife could no longer watch from the sidelines, there had to be something she could do... She stepped further into the room making her presence known before encircling Henry's body and pulling him into a strong embrace, pressing a kiss to his back. She tried to set his mind at ease and assure him everything would turn out okay. But the moment the words left her mouth she realized they sounded very unconvincing. Henry didn't mind he appreciated the gesture; however it did nothing to settle the unease he felt.

"I'm going to drive around for a bit," Karen said after a moment of silence, "Who knows, maybe I'll find her."

Henry turned around so he was facing his wife putting his arms around her shoulder and kissing her gently on the forehead, "That's sweet. But you don't have to."

"I know I don't but I _want_ to." she stressed the word to let him know she was serious; Henry smiled softly and gave her a kiss before nodding to set her on her path. Who knew indeed... Karen broke the embrace, grabbed the car keys and left.

Henry let out a deep breath he didn't even realize he was holding. He looked over at the table covered with tests and papers from his students. He might as well get some work done, he thought. He sat down and took the first one, he started reading with earnest. He was so engrossed for a moment he failed to notice Regina standing in the backyard with her head and face covered in blood.

Regina watched her father sitting at the table grading papers, she was so glad to finally be home again she just stood there a little while longer. She wanted to do so many things and yet did nothing, except watch her father being a teacher. She loved him so very much and couldn't help but be relieved she was there. He looked strangely calm though, she had imagined him being agitated because she had failed to call him. She didn't even know where her phone was.

The brunette shoved her hands in her back pockets and hoped he wouldn't be too mad at her for being home this late. She carefully entered the house, but her father gave no sign he had heard her, he was still reading a page encircling words with his red pen whenever necessary. "Daddy," Regina said but Henry didn't acknowledge her. This wasn't really that weird because her father tended to get a little too engrossed in his work to notice the things in front of him.

She went to stand next to him but still he didn't look at her or talk to her. Regina tried again, "Daddy, please?" But the man just sighed then groaned "Oh, Regina!", before throwing his pen onto the table irritably before standing up and walking away.

"Daddy, don't be mad, something bad happened to me?"

Henry ignored his daughter; Regina wasn't used to see her father like this. Of course he had been mad at her before but he had never completely ignored her, certainly not when she was wounded. He must have realized that she hadn't stayed away this long on purpose; Regina groaned loudly. "Why are you ignoring me? Can't you see I'm hurt?!" she shouted at her father. She grabbed some papers from the table and threw them in the air, "Daddy, look at me, please?!"

But Henry kept pacing up and down nervously, not acknowledging his daughter or the thrown papers at all. He walked to the window looking out onto the yard, ignoring the chaos on the table and Regina. He wrapped his arms protectively around his body staring blankly at the leaves falling from the trees outside. Regina couldn't take it anymore, walked up to her father and embraced him from behind telling him, "I'm so sorry! I'll make it up to you." She squeezed a little bit harder before letting go all together and going upstairs to make herself more presentable.

Henry took a deep breath, realizing he wouldn't be able to get any work done while he was this nervous. He walked back towards the table where everything was as he had left it and started cleaning up the stacks of ungraded papers and tests to put them away.

Hot water was hitting Regina's head, washing away the dirt and dried up blood, coloring the water at her feet a clear red. She had suspected the water might sting but it felt more as relieve to finally be able to clean herself. She didn't really feel any pain. When she was satisfied about her level of cleanliness she left the shower and got dressed in a fresh outfit. A dark pair of skinny jeans topped with a yellow hoodie, it was one of her favorite ones and she was glad she hadn't been wearing it yesterday because it would have been ruined judging from all the dirty spots the one she'd just thrown in the laundry basket had.

She exited the bathroom not really sure what her next plan would be because her father wasn't really in the mood to talk to her. Maybe her mother would be more lenient; she crossed the landing to where the phone was plugged into the wall. She dialed the number she knew by heart and waited until she heard her mother's voice.

Cora was standing in the middle of a very busy cafeteria, since this morning the number of people on and around the racing track had tripled - if not quadrupled - and she was a little overwhelmed. The amount of alcohol she had consumed wasn't helping much. She was broken from her reverie when she became aware of her phone ringing. She checked the caller ID and recognized it as Henry's landline, suddenly fearing he was calling with bad news she quickly picked up. "Hello? Henry?"

Regina was relieved when she heard her mother's voice, "No mom, it's me?" after a small pause she added unnecessarily, "Regina."

"Hello?" Cora repeated her question because apart from static no intelligible noises reached her. "Is there news from Regina?"

Cora's words were slurred and Regina's shoulders slumped, she knew her mother was drunk and judging by the background noise she was probably not hearing a thing and wasn't thinking clearly enough to step outside. She sighed heavily before hanging up. Calling her mother was no use but maybe a visit to the racing grounds would be. Regina smiled a little before running down the stairs towards her bike. She grabbed hold of the handlebars and kicked it into the action, in a couple of minutes she would hopefully be able to talk to her mother.

~~~oOo~~~

Hundreds of people were running to and from the cafeteria or several of the other food stalls scattered around the place, new refreshments in their hands, laughing and talking amicably. It was pretty clear they were excited about this afternoon's first qualification heats, all time trial heats had been over and all riders knew what seeding they would take in the first competitive stage. Regina saw a couple of riders warming up on the exercise tracks and she wanted nothing more than to throw on her racing jersey and trousers and get out there and drive the best race she had in her life. But of course she had more important business, like finding her mother.

Regina had been so engrossed in her thoughts she failed to notice she was standing in the middle of the pathway and people just kept bumping into her as if she wasn't even there. At first she told them to watch out but after a while she realized nobody paid attention to her. Minding her step she made her way towards the cafeteria in which she hoped to find her mother. The people inside were even closer pressed together and Regina tried to make her way through the throng of people.

It was extremely hard because again nobody seemed to hear or see her and this realization made Regina stop and just stand there. People, voices, the music, everything faded to the background and she stared in front of her when more and more people ran into her as if she wasn't even there. She realized in that moment that people couldn't see her, that she was ... a ghost? She really had died but somehow still lingered on earth. That was why her father hadn't acknowledged her, same as the people here. She wasn't really there... But weren't ghosts disembodied spirits, usually in evanescent form. Why were people able to bump into her, why couldn't she just appear where she wanted to appear? Regina had more questions than answers.

The brunette almost peed her pants when a hand connected hard with her shoulder forcing her to turn around when suddenly all noises assaulted her eardrums at once almost blowing them right out of her skull. Firm arms wrapped around her and a voice spoke to her but it took her a moment before she understood that someone was pulling her into a hug and not just anyone but her drunk mother.

"Regina, where have you been? I was worried sick about you, so was your father..." Cora pulled back a little to sweep her eyes over her daughter scanning to see if she was indeed okay, "Does your father know you are here? What happened to you..."

A lot of questions were burning in Cora's throat Regina judged but she just needed to make her drunken mother understand that something bad had happened to her, she only hoped she could get through to her in this state. "Mom, please, listen to me. Something bad happened to me, I think someone murdered me." The last part of her statement was uttered a lot quieter because it was still hard for Regina herself to take in what had probably happened to her but Cora hadn't heard it anyway.

"What do you mean something bad happened?" her words were still slurred and she tried to steady herself with a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Then we should go to the police, come on."

Cora started to walk away or something that should resemble walking at least but Regina stopped her, "Mom, wait! Listen to me, please." Regina pleaded but Cora was too wasted to think straight and just convinced herself more that the police would be able to sort this out.

She grabbed her daughter's wrist and tugged her along with her. They made their way through the crowd outside until Cora noticed Officer Jones, who was enjoying a hotdog. When Cora approached him he tried to make a joke, "Hi ma'am, hope I haven't done anything wrong so I don't need to go to the principal's office."

Cora, however, wasn't amused, "Jones, quit joking around! I have serious business to discuss with you."

Killian's face fell but he was quickly distracted by the delicious hotdog he was eating, he tried to take a bite while simultaneously wanting to ask a question making him spill ketchup on his uniform. "Shit!" he exclaimed, "I need to clean this." He put the rest of the hotdog in his mouth and tried wiping the ketchup away with his fingers, which was obviously not helpful.

Cora stared a little longer at the ex-student in front of her and wondered how on earth he had managed to get through police academy. She shook her head remembering why she was there and said, "Right, Killian. Well, something happened to Regina and I need you to pay attention to her." Jones quickly glanced to Cora and motioned for her to continue, at this point he had realized wiping it with his fingers wasn't working and he loosened his duty belt putting it on the squad car behind him.

"Maybe it's best if you tell him." Cora addressed her daughter, who just shrugged, by now Regina was convinced that only her mother saw her. Cora looked at Jones and said, "Could you please listen to Regina for a moment."

Officer Jones was confused, of course he was willing to listen to Regina's story but where was she... "Maybe you should get her then." He told Cora gently.

"Wha..? Are you pulling my leg? She's standing right here." Cora said angrily, she didn't get why he was trying to make fun of the situation. She knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but this was just rude.

"Miss Mills, maybe you shouldn't drink so much. It's a school day tomorrow, you know." He told her sympathetically, miming a drinking motion with his free hand; the other was still grabbing his uniform, "Look, I'm going to get something for this..." and he stepped away.

Cora groaned, not understanding any of it. She looked at Regina who crossed her arms angrily in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow at her mother. "What?"

"Maybe you should drink less and listen more, I told you I think I'm dead... nobody can see me apart from you but because of your drunken state no one will believe you. Thanks a lot mom."

Cora scoffed, "Regina, don't be ridiculous! You can't be dead, I'm talking to you am I not."

Regina sighed; she had had enough of her drunken mother and trying to make her understand the reality of the situation. She saw Jones's forgotten gun on the car and pulled it from its holster. "Regina, put that down, you'll hurt someone or worse... you'll hurt yourself."

But Regina wasn't listening; she aimed the gun at the sky having a point to prove and pulled the trigger. An ear shattering shot resonated through the racing grounds but nobody except from Cora seemed to notice. Regina quickly dropped the gun to the ground with a soft thud before stepping away from her mother.

Officer Jones chose that moment to return and Cora who had been shocked her daughter had just fired a gun looked at Killian, who just put the duty belt on with the gun still in its holster. Cora quickly glanced to the ground where she had just seen Regina drop the gun back to the holster and noticed it was indeed safely where it should be. Jones asked her if she needed help but a confused Cora realized she needed more alcohol and left him in search of more booze.

Unbeknownst to Regina or Cora, four other people had looked up at the sky the moment Regina squeezed the trigger: her stepsister Zelena, her best friend Kathryn, Sheriff Nottingham and ... Emma Swan.


	3. Muddy River

_**A/N: Thanks for all the support. Hope you like this chapter as well :-) This was supposed to be updated last week due to unforeseen circumstances it wasn't...**_

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Regina was standing in the crowd, staring blankly in front of her, people were walking into her left and right but she couldn't care less. She knew something bad had happened to her, she had seen her own dead body after all but still some part of her was hoping she might still be alive. She might still be able to find her body in time to reunite her essence with it and live again. But another part had given in to the painful truth that she was deceased. No one except for her drunken mother was able to see or hear her and Regina wasn't even sure if her mother had. Maybe Cora being drunk was the sole reason she could see her daughter.

The young brunette didn't know what she was going to do now, was there anything she could do? Her father was worried sick and she didn't even have the means to tell him she was alright, that everything would turn out okay. Of course, that was a lie... Nothing would ever be okay again. She watched the people walking around the tracks and noticed a cute blonde standing a couple of yards away from her, watching her with an odd expression.

Regina chuckled when she realized the blonde probably wasn't looking at her at all because she wasn't really there. She decided to have a little fun and winked at the blonde. The young woman blushed but didn't break eye contact with Regina, she gave her a little nod in acknowledgement and Regina almost had a heart attack. Whoever was looking at her was clearly able to see her; still a bit unsure she pointed at herself and mouthed 'are you looking at me'.

The blonde nodded and Regina made her way over to her. When she was close enough, the blonde said, "Hi," Regina just smiled at her, it felt as if the blonde knew her but she couldn't remember ever seeing her before. "What's up?"

Regina chuckled again, this was a strange woman indeed, she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the stranger and answered honestly, "I've been better. Did you ever have the feeling that you're invisible? Like you died but are still around for whatever reason?"

The blonde gave her a smile and said, "I feel dead inside pretty much all the time, so yeah... I understand what you're feeling."

A wide smile spread across Regina's features, for a moment she considered whether the blonde could be seen by other people. They hadn't been standing there long but no one had walked into them so it was safe to assume the blonde was very much alive. As if on cue, someone in the distance called out to her. "Emma!"

"Sorry, need to go... my mom..." she trailed off as if that was all the explanation one needed. Then something dawned on Emma and she turned back towards Regina, "You don't remember me, do you?"

Regina was taken aback, should she know this girl? She looked a couple of years younger than her so she couldn't be in the same year of college unless she was some sort of prodigy but Emma didn't look like the type to want to go to college. The brunette stared a little too long at the blonde and that was all the answer Emma needed, "Thought so. Well, see you around I guess." She shrugged and made her way over to her mother.

Regina stared after her, bewildered as of who this Emma person was and where they had met. She was intriguing and somewhat beautiful as well, Regina blushed. Emma elicited some new and mysterious feelings within her, feelings she had never felt before. She really wanted to get to know the blonde. Regina blamed her lifeless state for this; it was doing all kinds of strange things. She was probably just intrigued because it was nice to be seen by someone. Maybe Regina should try to find out more about how she had died, thus she decided to visit the place where she had last been alive, room 108.

~~~oOo~~~

Karen was driving around town; she was in particular focusing her attention on and around the archery ranch where the biggest party had been held. So far there hadn't been any news about Regina's whereabouts. For a brief moment Karen thought that no news was probably a good thing but truth be told in the back of her mind she feared however that this only meant bad news.

She couldn't really explain it but she had this weird feeling that something was horribly wrong. Like Darkton had changed overnight, this foreboding feeling had been with her even before she had learned Regina was missing. She slowed her car down and scanned the land searching for clues. She braked abruptly and jumped out of the car, not minding to turn the engine off or close her door for that matter.

She ran into the field and hoped her eyes were deceiving her; she was starting to blame her tiredness and worry for hallucinating things. The closer she got, the more she realized she wasn't hallucinating however. There, only a couple of meters further down the field was a bike and not just any bike, it was Regina's bike. The front wheel was broken and the bike had clearly been dumped. Her heart beat painfully irregular, Karen didn't like this one bit. She grabbed her phone and called Henry to inform him of the bad news.

After informing her husband she called the police and just waited next to the discarded bike for them to show up. She kept a safe distance from the bike; watching detective shows on television had taught her to not disrupt the crime scene in order to make the investigation easier. Only 5 minutes later Henry pulled up and ran from his car, Karen immediately walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. He tried a couple of times to get to the bike but Karen managed to hold him back and he broke down in her arms.

A police car also pulled up to the scene and two uniformed cops got out, they put on some latex gloves and started examining the immediate area surrounding the bike. They couldn't find anything useful apart from some waste. They looked at the bike but saw no visible traces of blood or other substances. They put the bike in the back of the police car and decided to get it examined at the crime lab.

~~~oOo~~~

An unfamiliar black sedan arrived at the police station and two women in pantsuits stepped from it. No one knew these women, but they looked very businesslike, so all the cops let them pass without questioning them. In an almost comical synchronicity they flashed their badges and announced themselves as Special Agents Belle French and Ruby Lucas from the missing persons unit of the FBI. Everyone gathered in the bullpen office watched the women with interest. The fact the FBI knew of Darkton's existence was surprising, they were all rather excited.

All of them except Sheriff Keith Nottingham, he didn't like the fact the FBI was there to interfere in his business. He was also an old-fashioned kind of man and didn't understand why both agents were female. Hiding his dislike by the best of his ability he put on a friendly face and greeted both women heartedly. "What can I do for you ladies?"

Special Agents Lucas and French shared a knowing look and both suppressed the urge to roll their eyes at the man's clearly misogynistic manners. They instantly realized he was going to give them a hard time and should be watched closely. Especially Ruby, who had great people skills, didn't trust the sheriff at all. She shook his hand friendly though and smiled when she asked him, "Well, there's a woman missing. What can you tell us?"

Sheriff shrugged and replied sincerely, "Apart from the fact that she's missing and we just found her abandoned bicycle... nothing much."

"Her parents informed the police this morning; you started an investigation of course?" Agent French asked.

The officers standing behind the sheriff looked embarrassedly at each other before turning their gazes to the ground. They didn't want to humiliate their sheriff, staying quiet was probably the best they could do. Sheriff Nottingham glanced quickly at the embarrassed-looking officers before turning his attention back to the agents. "Well, we didn't really have time to search for a girl who is probably sleeping at a friend's place."

Ruby swallowed the words that were on her tongue; the moment they drove into Darkton she expected they were going to deal with incompetent police officers but she at least hoped the sheriff would be different. Apparently he wasn't... they were treating this like a joke, a young woman was missing but they did nothing. He must have seen the shift in Ruby because he added, "It's been rather busy with all the things that are going on at this moment. And besides we found her bike, it's at the crime lab for further investigation."

Officer Jones, who admired his sheriff more than anyone else on the force, couldn't stand the fact that these lasses were treating Sheriff like he was an incompetent fool. "What's more, her mother has seen her. That's what she claimed at the race."

Agent French turned her attention to the young officer that had opened his mouth. Judging from his appearance, his good looks got him anywhere, it certainly wasn't his wit because he was clearly lacking in that department. "When was this?" she asked slowly, making sure he would understand her.

Officer Jones contemplated her question for a moment, thinking out loud. "The time trials had been over... I was eating a hot dog... so must be past lunch time... This was before I talked to Eve... but after I got my uniform dirty..." Both agents were waiting as patiently as they could for him to make up his mind. Sheriff shook his head slightly, feeling embarrassed in Jones's place. Suddenly the lad's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "Around two I think. But she was rather drunk, going on about Regina being there but I certainly didn't see her."

The hope that Regina had definitely been seen deflated the moment the agents heard him say that Regina's mother had been wasted. They asked to see the place where the bicycle was found and Sheriff and Officer Jones eagerly led the way out of the station.

Mr. Gold had been waiting uncomplainingly in the police station until someone had time to answer his questions, so far no one had. When he saw Nottingham and Jones, he immediately walked up to them, in a rather erratic way he gained their attention. "Where's the wrench? Was it human blood? I knew it was, that wrench was an omen... An omen I tell you! A bad one!" His voice was high-pitched and got louder with each word he said.

The men were used to his strange behavior and were more than ready to dismiss him like they normally did but the women didn't know this man and demanded to know what he was talking about. Sheriff didn't know, he hadn't been in the station before now and Killian just shrugged and told them that earlier Mr. Gold had brought in a bloodied wrench. Both women were stunned, how on earth was a stupid fuck like him allowed to carry a gun?! They asked him what he had done with the wrench, fearing the worst. Officer Jones showed them where he had put it, a smug smile on his face feeling proud for not wasting the lab's time by some fool's errand.

"Well, it's probably wise to have that thing tested." Agent Lucas offered gently, she knew better than to crush this man's ego and it worked because Killian gave her a huge smile and informed one of his colleagues that they needed to send the wrench to the lab. All of them walked out of the station and made their way over to the field where Regina's bicycle was found.

~~~oOo~~~

It was dark out when Regina finally arrived at the B&B, which was still under construction. Watching closely to see if anyone was awake, she noticed the lights were dimly on in the foyer and in two other rooms. That meant Leo was home and he was the last person Regina wanted to encounter. She turned back, wanting to put some distance between her and the place but she decided against that. She came here on a mission and she wasn't going to abandon it because of her ex-boyfriend.

Taking a deep breath she walked closer to the entrance, careful not to get caught. Then she realized no one was able to see her except for Emma. Thinking about the blonde brought a smile on her face and made her heart skip a beat. It was strange the connection she felt to her but Regina didn't regret feeling more alive than she ever had, which was probably ironic but at the moment she didn't care.

She reached the entrance and slipped in unnoticed, she looked left and right but no movement was visible so she ran up the stairs towards room 108. Standing in front of the closed door she steadied herself again, she had no idea what she would see inside and she hesitated briefly wondering if she was up for it. Her hand was on the door handle, trembling ever so slightly. She gripped it more firmly and turned it, the unhinging lock the only sound she heard. The sound sounded like a blaring alarm in the tense silence surrounding her but Regina ignored this and walked inside the room.

What she saw inside knocked the wind from her lungs! The entire room was stripped clean... The tarp was gone, the bathroom finished and sparkling clean. How could this be? It had only been a couple of hours since she woke up here and bled to death in the bathroom but there wasn't a single trace of evidence left. Regina searched frantically to find any shred of proof that she had been there and momentarily wondered if she had been hallucinating due to drinking too much alcohol. Maybe what she thought she had seen hadn't really been there... Could this be? Had she imagined everything?

Then she remembered washing off the blood and the dirt in the shower earlier, feeling the ache where the wound had been and the disorientation that probably told her she had a concussion. It was real, she had been there and she had died there. But where was her body? Who had taken it and what had they done with it? More questions Regina didn't know the answer to and frankly she didn't need even more questions but what could she do at this point...

She ran downstairs, wanting nothing more than to get out of this horrible place. Something caught her eye however and she halted in the doorway of the foyer. Or at least what used to be the foyer because everything was covered in plastic tarp and all the furniture was gone except for a couple of chairs. She watched the young redhead sitting on one of them and approached her leisurely. Zelena and Regina had never been the best of friends but she hadn't realized how much she would miss her if they weren't able to talk - or fight - every single day.

Smiling sadly, the brunette tentatively reached out to touch her sister's head. The moment her hand connected with Zelena's hair, the redhead snapped her head towards Regina and gasped startled. "Regina?!" she half shouted in surprise not really believing her eyes. Zelena had had this ominous feeling that something really bad had happened to Regina and was more than a little surprised to see her. Zelena quickly got up and pulled her in a hug.

"You can see me?" Regina asked in a soft voice.

Zelena's brow furrowed and she raised an eyebrow at her sister, "Of course, I can." She said it as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "Where have you been? Everyone was worried sick!"

"I think..." Regina trailed off unsure how to tell her sister what she thought had happened without sounding like a lunatic, "... something bad happened to me."

Zelena opened her mouth but didn't get the chance to reply because a noise caught both women's attention and they turned to look in the direction it came from to see a disgruntled Leo enter the foyer. He barely suppressed the eye roll he wanted to make when he saw Zelena there. "Zelena, you shouldn't have come." he sighed, "What do you want?"

Zelena was slightly taken aback, not only because of his rudeness but also because he didn't acknowledge Regina in the slightest. "What about Regina?"

"What about her?! She made it abundantly clear she wants nothing to do with me. For all I care they can find her dead body in the Muddy River!"

"Leo!" both women shouted indignantly.

Zelena continued, "You've got to be kidding me, right? What an awful thing to say!"

Leo shrugged but looked apologetic, "Sorry I know you care about her, but I'm under a lot of stress and you're not helping." When Zelena didn't say anything he continued, "Look, I have an important race tomorrow and should really get some rest."

"Okay." Zelena was at a loss for words, why was he being this rude with Regina standing there. Leo didn't say anything and just turned and left, leaving Zelena and Regina alone.

"What were you doing here exactly?" Regina asked her sister apprehensively because she was curious to the nature of her sister's visit.

"Never you mind, why was he being this rude? That's the better question." Zelena quickly dismissed Regina's question not ready to get into that just yet.

"I don't think he can see me." The brunette admitted, but this only made the confused look on Zelena's features grow.

"What do you mean?" Zelena asked incredulously. Regina knew it would be hard to convince her sister but she decided to tell her everything she had been through today no matter how crazy it might sound. If she wasn't able to explain it to her own stepsister, how was she going to solve this?

~~~oOo~~~

Special Agents Lucas and French had combed through the area where the bike had been found but nothing useful was left behind. It looked like Regina – or anyone who had taken her bike – had just dumped the bike because of the broken wheel. But it was far too early to make any assumptions especially since the young woman herself hadn't turned up yet. She was still missing and therefore Lucas and French treated this as such.

They had asked for a room in which they could work and the Darkton PD had gladly obliged. Sheriff Nottingham didn't think it was necessary to have an entire room available to solve this case but had kept his mouth shut, these women already rubbed him the wrong way and he didn't think it was wise to aggravate them more. As long as they didn't meddle in his affairs they were the least of his concern.

They had set up an evidence board on which they had put a photo of Regina Mills, provided by her father. It was a family picture and Regina looked happy and carefree on it, Ruby thought. She smiled sadly at it before grabbing a marker and writing the words 'abandoned bike' on the board. There was a map on which Belle put a pin on the exact location where the bike was found. Ruby continued adding words on the board: last known location? They knew for certain that Regina had attended the Archer Fest but they didn't know when she had left or where she had gone to. Assuming the bike had indeed been abandoned by her she was at least heading in the right direction to go home. But what had happened between the archery range and her home was also still a mystery.

Ruby sighed because of the lack of information; there were more question marks on the evidence board than clues. The sigh made Belle look up; she was still adding pins to the map: one for the archery range and one for Henry Mills' residency. Belle didn't need to ask her colleague – and friend – what was wrong, this case was … hard and already a little frustrating, the lack of professionalism of this quaint police department not even included.

"Are the results back yet?" Ruby asked Belle.

"To locate which tower her cell phone last made contact with?" Belle asked rhetorically, "No, should be here any minute now."

"Hopefully, that'll help us." Ruby smiled, grateful to work this case with Belle. It was Ruby's first major case on which she was lead and it excited her in some way. Of course she wasn't happy about the missing person or the fact that the woman was most likely dead, but getting the chance to work this case was exhilarating.

The ringing of her cell phone brought her back to the present, "Lucas." she answered in her usual professional tone. It was the lab calling to inform her about the cell phone's last activity, she gestured to Belle to gain her attention, "I'm putting you on speaker."

 _"Okay, well we have good news and bad news."_ The voice on the other end informed them, _"The good news is the phone was on, the bad news is the tower closest to the signals was near Muddy River and the last signal dates hours ago."_

"Thank you for the info." Ruby said before ending the call and looking grimly at Belle, this sure as hell wasn't a good sign and both women feared the worst. Belle quickly put the final pin on the map before they called in an ambulance and left for Muddy River.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina had successfully told her sister everything that had happened today and had also informed her of the fact that she thought she might be dead. Zelena had listened closely to Regina but refused to believe her sister was dead. Because she could still see, touch and feel her. They had hugged after all and Regina felt very real, she was warm and solid.

The events had exhausted Regina and she decided to ride home and get some sleep before searching for clues in the morning. She was on the road when sirens and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles caught her attention; she noticed a couple police cars, an ambulance and her father's car driving at high speed towards Muddy River. Not wasting one second she set about following them and drove at top speed after them.

They had had a head start and it looked like some police cars had already been on the scene because she noticed scuba divers were getting into the water while police officers were walking around the place closely looking to find evidence. But all that didn't matter, Regina noticed her father standing a little further his arms firmly wrapped around his upper body as if he was bracing himself for something. The brunette ran over to him and put both arms around him, holding him close.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff Nottingham and Officer Jones arrived first at the scene and started walking gradually scanning the area with their eyes, hoping to find something out of the ordinary. Agents Lucas and French were also scanning the area, when Agent French noticed some broken branches she gestured to a uniformed officer standing nearby whom immediately collected some of them putting them in an evidence bag.

Sheriff Nottingham passed an old and rotten tree on which a scarf and some markings had been put. Not knowing if they were related to the case he regarded them a little closer and suddenly got a warning feeling. He gestured toward Agent Lucas who was closest to him and pointed to the tree, the look on her face grew more worried. The scarf and markings could be a sign left behind by the perpetrator to make sure they would find her; they could very well be nothing also.

Sheriff Nottingham saw a glistening in the grass and bent down to have a closer look. He saw a piece of a broken keychain or something similar and immediately knew the design: a running Grey Hound or at least part of it because it was broken in half. He looked around him to see if anyone was watching him and when he was sure no one was he picked up the silver item and quickly put it in his pocket.

At the same moment one of the divers surfaced from the water and made a sign alerting all law enforcers standing there that he had found something. The equipment to get it out of the water was put in place and a little later it ascended... pulling the body of a young woman out of the water, she was naked and blindfolded.

At that moment Cora on her bicycle arrived and first glimpsed the body of a deceased woman being pulled out of the water before noticing Henry and Regina standing a little further. Henry was about to break down the moment he saw the dead body, Cora not even coming to a full stop jumped from the bike and let it fall to the ground before running up to them and pulling them both in a hug, whispering sweet nothings in Henry's ear trying with all her might to reassure her ex-husband that everything would be okay. She looked at Regina, who was watching her with a curious look and she just shrugged not able to make sense of this either.

One thing was abundantly clear: a young woman had been murdered and dumped in the river.


	4. See'ers

_**A/N: I want to apologize it took such a long time to update this story but life happened... I can't make any promises on when the next chapter will be ready but I'll do my best to finish it soon :-). Enjoy!**_

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Cora was sitting in her office on Monday morning, very hung-over. She rubbed her tired eyes and massaged her painful temples in an attempt to subdue the raging headache but it was to no avail. Yet she didn't stop the calming motion. Visions of the night before flashed before her eyes: a body being pulled from the water, Henry breaking down completely, Regina... There had been a moment in all the commotion that Cora hadn't been sure what was going on. Henry kept repeating 'Oh, Regina' over and over again as if he had recognized the body for Regina's but Regina was standing right there, hugging them. Cora was convinced in that moment that her drinking habits might be damaging.

 _Police officers were running to and from the small tent that had been set up to shield the naked body of the young woman from eager onlookers. Also to give the coroner, the investigators and FBI agents the peace and privacy they needed to conduct their preliminary examination. Cora wanted to ask someone if they could confirm that it was indeed Regina's body they had pulled from the water but she just stood there dazed, maybe a little too drunk to fully comprehend what was going on._

 _She held onto Henry unable to utter a single syllable, Henry didn't mind the contact and both parents comforted each other. Regina stepped back and had to make sure that it was indeed her body. She walked over to the tent and with all the commotion nobody seemed to notice her. She slipped in when an officer came out and saw her own naked body almost unrecognizable from the discoloration of decomposition and it was also a bit bloated from being in the water for a couple hours. Nevertheless she recognized her own face which had a blindfold pulled over the eyes, which was weird. Last time she had seen herself she hadn't been blindfolded. Voices from the approaching agents told her it was time to go and she slipped from the tent unseen. She immediately met Cora's perplexed gaze and nodded once averting her eyes because she couldn't handle the expression that broke out over her mother's face. Regina left and Cora snuggled closer in Henry's embrace._

Regina was gone... her beloved daughter had been brutally murdered. Why? How? Who had done it? All these questions were only aggravating Cora's headache, she sighed before opening her eyes slowly. The printout of a report she had been working on was lying in front of her and she tried to concentrate on it which proved too difficult a task. A firm knock on her office door brought her from her reverie and she looked up from her desk and said, "Come in."

Two unfamiliar women entered Cora's office and flashed their badges identifying themselves, only after doing so Cora remembered seeing them at the crime scene yesterday. She motioned for them to take a seat in the two chairs in front of her desk and the women complied. "What can I do for you, agents?" she asked in a desperate tone.

"Good morning, Ms. Mills. First we want to give our condolences and we want to apologize for interrupting you so early in the day but it's vital for our investigation." Agent Lucas told Cora.

Agent French took over from there, "It's come to our attention that you claimed you've seen Regina yesterday at the BMX tracks. Could you elaborate on that?"

Cora chuckled, which surprised the agents but they didn't comment on it. The thought that Cora had believed she had seen her daughter was absurd now. It must have been a figment of her imagination what other explanation could there be? "I claimed that indeed but ... it wasn't true."

Ruby's brow furrowed because she still wasn't seeing the humor in the situation and thought this was a very strange reaction from the mother of a murder victim. "What do you mean it wasn't true? Why did you go around telling lies?"

Cora realized she wasn't giving the right impression to the agents because of course they didn't realize the full extent of the situation. She gave Agent Lucas a gentle smile before explaining, "Well, at the time I believed every word of what I was saying. But you know how it gets... the stress, the excitement, the ..." she mimicked chugging several drinks, "...if you get my drift."

Belle understood immediately, she had lived under the strict rule of an alcoholic father way too long to not recognize the bags under Cora's eyes from sleep deprivation, the hollow cheeks from substituting a good meal for liquid "snacks" instead, the dry lips from licking them too many times, the absent glance in her eyes. "You were drunk and what... hallucinating?" she asked incredulously.

"I guess." Cora answered shrugging.

"You guess..." Belle slightly shook her head in disbelieve and tried to control the urge to roll her eyes. "So you didn't actually see Regina?" Cora shook her head. "Then we'll leave you to it for now, thank you for your time."

Both women stood up and left the office, they were a bit disappointed by all of this because they were no further to solving this case than they were yesterday. Next stop: Henry Mills.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry was seated at the kitchen table alongside him were his wife and Zelena; the two agents were opposite him. He saw their lips move but he couldn't comprehend a single word that left their mouths. The sounds were muffled by a ringing noise that was sounding in his head, like the sound soldiers hear after a bomb went off too close to them. He stared at them, wanting to help them but still not understanding what was going on. Regina was dead, that couldn't be true... Henry had seen her dead body with his own eyes, yet his mind refused to believe it.

"Mr. Mills, when was the last time you spoke with Regina?" Agent Lucas repeated the question for the third time. She felt sorry for the dejected looking man but there was no time to lose. The more time they wasted the less likely it would be they would solve the murder.

Henry just stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights. Karen grasped his hand in hers and tried to get a reaction out of him but none came. "I'm sorry, Agent Lucas, it's been hard on my husband I hope you understand."

Agent Lucas nodded sympathetically and Karen continued, "Maybe I can answer some of your questions?"

"When was Regina last home?"

"When she left for the Archer Fest with Zelena." Karen answered and Zelena nodded her head in confirmation and added, "Yeah, we had been at the tracks before that and decided to come home and change before going to the Archer Fest."

"So, you were the one who last saw her?" Agent French wanted to know.

"I guess..." Zelena shrugged, "At the fest I kinda lost track of her. I thought she had left with her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Agent Lucas asked before writing all of this down in shorthand in her notebook.

"Yes, Leo Nottingham."

Agent Lucas was writing down his name but looked up halfway through, "Like in Sheriff Nottingham?"

"The same, yes, Sheriff is Leo's uncle." Zelena provided and Ruby nodded again before adding this little piece of information to her notebook.

"So you saw them together?" Agent French asked.

"Well, not really... Leo is under a lot of pressure during the championship and he doesn't really like to party and Regina was ... well, she was really in the mood." Zelena recalled Regina was acting out of character because although Regina could party she never really lost control.

"Did Regina do drugs?"

"Never!" came the firm answer of Karen and Zelena confirmed this. "Regina would never endanger her career as a racer and using drugs would automatically disqualify her from racing."

"But she might have been a bit drunk." Zelena offered. "I know I was... that's why I don't really remember when I lost track of her."

Henry was still sitting there staring blankly in front of him, not hearing a word that was being said. Karen squeezed his hand a couple of times which he felt but didn't acknowledge, he was still trying to come to terms with his daughter's death.

Apart from the information that Regina was dating Sheriff Nottingham's nephew they didn't really get much new information. So Agent Lucas decided to use a different tactic, "Cora Mills claimed she had seen Regina yesterday, very much alive. Do any of you know anything about this?"

Zelena had also seen Regina and her mouth opened to tell the agents as much but her mother was quicker, "Cora has a drinking problem... and with festivities like these going on she's drunk pretty much 24 hours a day, I wouldn't think too much of it."

"But mum..." Zelena tried again but Karen wasn't having it and quickly interjected again.

"Now, if you would be as kind as to leave us in peace... my husband's not feeling too well and we still have a lot of funeral planning to do..."

Both agents shared a understanding look and stood up. They shook hands with Karen and Zelena but Henry was still catatonic. As soon as they had left Zelena turned to her mother, "Cora wasn't hallucinating you know... I've seen Regina as well."

Karen quickly glanced at Henry before pulling her daughter into another room, "Zelena stop! You can't go around telling lies like that! It's not funny."

"I'm not trying to be funny, mum, it's the truth! I saw her yesterday evening!" Zelena pulled herself free from her mother's grasp and crossed her arms angrily.

"That can't be! Regina has been dead way longer than that. I want you to go to your room, young lady and think about what you've just said." Karen responded angrily.

"But mum..." Zelena tried one last time but Karen just turned around and returned to her husband's side. The redhead couldn't believe her mother was refusing to believe her and went to her room, stomping her feet on the stairs, acting more like a teenager than like a woman in her twenties.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was looking at some pictures from a photo album when Cora walked in. She looked at her mother, who clearly saw her but pretended not to. After a brief moment of hesitation Cora went about her business as usual, she dropped her keys on the end table near her front door and walked into the kitchen to check the fridge to see if there was anything to eat.

"Really, mom, are you just going to pretend I'm not here?" Regina asked her mother.

Cora didn't answer Regina's question she kept repeating to herself 'this isn't real, Regina is gone ... this isn't real, Regina is gone'. Regina got up from the couch and walked over to her mother, standing in front of her trying to block her way. But Cora still didn't acknowledge her. Regina was getting fed up. "Okay, so now I'm dead to you too! I'm already dead to most of the world can you please talk to me, this is difficult enough as it is." Regina pleaded.

Cora stopped shortly but shook her head and continued what she was doing; there wasn't anything in the fridge so she needed to do some grocery shopping. Before she reached the door however, her phone rang and she reluctantly went back to answer it, "Hello?"

It was Henry, he asked Cora if she would want to plan Regina's funeral together. "Of course I want to plan our daughter's funeral with you." Cora told him quickly. They made arrangements and Cora ended the call.

Regina walked up to her mother again, "I don't want to be buried, mom! I want to find the truth! Please mom, listen to me. Please!"

Cora looked straight through her daughter and headed to the door, Regina following closely but before she could get out of the door with her mother, Cora quickly closed it and locked it. Regina was trying the door handle but to no avail, she started to bang on the door pleading again with her mother but Cora just sighed and left still thinking this was all in her head.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was walking alongside the Muddy River kicking leaves and pine cones and all other kickable things she encountered. She still couldn't comprehend why her mother had acted like she wasn't there, like she was ... deceased. She had even locked her in the house or at least tried to because of course the windows still opened and Regina had managed to get out.

She was close to the spot where the divers had found her body; she saw a lot of flowers, candles and teddy bears being laid nearby. A man and woman were walking up to the spot before adding their own bouquet to the growing pile. The woman appeared to be crying and the man comforted her. Regina watched them closely and tried to remember if she had seen them before. Well their town was so small she had encountered them of course but she didn't recall ever talking to them or even knowing their names and that pissed Regina off.

Why was everyone acting like she was some sort of hero, they didn't even know her. Maybe they were BMX fans and had cheered her on at one of her races but since there wasn't a lot of interest for the women races she doubted they were. Regina's anger was getting the better of her and she waved her arms wildly above her head, shouting to the couple standing there, "Hey, I'm right over here! You don't have to cry, I'm not dead!"

Of course the couple didn't react as Regina had expected, still she kept shouting and waving. The couple looked one final time out over the water before turning and walking away. When they moved from Regina's line of sight she noticed her best friend, Kathryn, who was standing a couple of meters away from the shrine with a solemn expression and tears in her eyes. Regina's arms stopped moving and she just stood there, she hadn't seen Kathryn since the Archer Fest and just now realized how much she would miss her if she couldn't see and talk to her daily like they used to.

When Kathryn turned to walk away from the place, she looked in Regina's direction and like with everyone Regina expected her to not see her. However when their eyes met, Kathryn's gaze grew wide. Shortly after, her brow furrowed and her jaw dropped to the floor. Regina waved tentatively at Kathryn and Kathryn waved back, confirming that she was indeed seeing her. The brunette ran over to her blonde friend, who opened her arms immediately. Both friends hugged each other fiercely as if they hadn't seen each other in years.

"How's this possible? The police say you died? Have they made a mistake?" Kathryn fired one question after the other, not giving Regina any chance to answer them.

"I don't think they did..." Regina answered honestly. "But I don't know what's going on either."

"Well, we need to figure this out and soon!" Kathryn said. She interlocked their arms and started to guide Regina away from the riverside.

~~~oOo~~~

Leo walked into the interrogation room feeling a little self-conscious. Two unfamiliar agents showed him where he was to be seated and he complied wordlessly, a little unsure of what he was doing there.

"Thank you for coming, Leo." Agent French told him and Leo only nodded. "We wanted to ask you a couple of questions if that's okay with you?"

Again Leo nodded knowing they only asked him as a courtesy because he didn't really have a choice, they were going to ask their questions anyhow.

"Do you know why you're here?" Agent Lucas asked, she was leaning nonchalantly against a wall.

Leo shrugged because of course he knew Regina was dead but he didn't see how any of this had anything to do with him. Both agents shared a look, for someone whose girlfriend was just found dead he was acting very odd. They watched him look at his watch for the third time as if he had better things to do. They were perplexed, how was anyone this indifferent about their lover being murder unless...

Agent French decided to cut right to the chase, "When did you last see Regina?"

Leo's brow furrowed in contemplation and he answered bitterly, "At the Archer Fest when she broke up with me."

"Why did she break up with you?" Agent Lucas wanted to know.

"Don't know... don't care either." Leo answered still sounding rather sour. He looked at the agents for the first time really and understood they weren't happy with how he was behaving so he added, "Look, she just walked up to me and was behaving rather wild. I told her to act normal and she just told me we were over, because she didn't think we were right for each other."

Leo sighed, "And I think she was right, so I let her walk away from me and that's the last I've seen of her."

The agents still didn't understand why he sounded this bitter when he thought it was for the best... Probably his male ego was bruised because she broke up with _him_ at a public setting. And it didn't really explain why he was acting so indifferent either. Agent Lucas watched him more closely, his shoulders were slumped and his gaze was down but he didn't look like he was remorseful or angry or anything. He just looked bored.

"So your girlfriend breaks up with you and you're fine with it which is something I can understand but then the girlfriend is missing and later found dead and you still focus on the championship and are not angry or sad about any of this?" Agent Lucas asked him incredulously, trying to get any kind of reaction out of him.

"This championship is important!" Leo said, his eyes aflame, finally showing some kind of emotion.

"And she wasn't?" Agent Lucas asked.

"She broke up with me! Without any preamble or reason... so it's not like I meant much to her either. Why can't I just focus on the championship instead of losing myself over someone who doesn't want me anyway?" Leo answered honestly. "Look, I cared for her but I never loved her and I knew she didn't love me either. We had one thing in common and that was BMX racing, so excuse me if I want to hold on to the only thing we shared. Am I being a little selfish? Probably, but I'm not going to pretend to be sad over something I'm not! If that makes me look guilty then so be it ... I've got nothing to hide."

Agent French asked him one final question, "Did you kill her?"

"Of course not!" Leo answered through gritted teeth not really sounding convincing and although he claimed to not feel guilty, guilt was one of the main emotions shown in his eyes. But without any real proof both agents understood they had to let him go, so they told him he could leave but had to stay available for further questioning.

~~~oOo~~~

Kathryn walked into the police station; Officer Jones had called her to ask if she wanted to help the investigation. She spotted the handsome looking officer talking at the coffeemaker with some other uniformed cops. Apparently he had said something funny because the three men all started laughing. Killian was laughing as well until he spotted Kathryn then he composed himself, gave a stern look to the other officers and made his way over to where Kathryn was standing.

"Hi, Kath." He said and he gave her a solemn smile.

"Hi, Officer Jones." Kathryn replied, she knew he felt guilty because he was just laughing while Kathryn's best friend had just died but Kathryn didn't blame him. The situation would have been different probably when Regina was really gone but since she had just left her best friend in her car, she didn't feel so sad anymore.

"Can you tell me when you last saw Regina?" He asked her, while sitting down at his desk and opening a new document in Word on his computer.

"At the Archer Fest." Kathryn like all the others had last seen Regina there.

"Do you remember her leaving?" He asked while typing.

"No, not really. I was bartending pretty much the entire night so..." Kathryn briefly glanced down, feeling rather guilty about something but Officer Jones was oblivious to this. "Regina was having a good time. I think the stress of the championship was getting to her and she just wanted to unwind. But I have to be honest I've never seen her like that before."

"Do you think she might have taken drugs?"

"Never!"

Regina was probably the most anti-drug person Kathryn knew, she was way too responsible to get into that mess. Besides, Regina always managed to have a great time, she didn't need drugs.

Kathryn added, "I think she was just drunk and having a good time. Maybe her drunkenness in combination with the stress she'd had lately made her acting out a bit..." It sounded like Kathryn wasn't really convinced herself.

"Everyone we asked was pretty sure Regina wasn't doing drugs so I believe you." Killian smiled at Kathryn, "Did you see her and Leo get into a fight?"

"A fight?" Kathryn asked, unsure why Killian was bringing this up.

"Yeah, apparently she broke up with him at the fest." Jones provided.

It was clear that this was news to Kathryn, she hadn't seen them fight... come to think of it she hadn't even seen them interact. Kathryn wasn't really surprised that Regina had done this because she knew Leo wasn't right for her best friend. Officer Jones had no further questions since Kathryn didn't know anything more about when Regina left or who she was with. At least he had tried...

Kathryn stood up to leave but hesitated briefly. "Can I see a picture of Regina?"

Killian looked at her with a puzzled expression; he didn't understand what Kathryn was asking. Didn't she have plenty of pictures of Regina, he opened his mouth to say this but Kathryn beat him to it.

"I mean from ... Regina's body?" Kathryn added in a soft voice.

Officer Jones didn't quite understand why anyone would want to see that but he complied anyway. He looked around, hoping the agents weren't there because he wasn't sure if he was allowed to show that picture. When he was satisfied nobody was paying them any attention, he grabbed a file from Sheriff's desk with 'Regina Mills' on it, opened it and took out the photo of Regina which was taken in the tent at the riverside.

Kathryn glanced at the picture but it took her a moment to recognize her friend, she was so pale. Almost unrecognizable... but when she really focused on the photograph she recognized her best friend's features. She swallowed hard, hoping and praying she would get that image out of her head again. Regina's body had indeed been found, still her best friend was at this very moment waiting for her to return to the car...

~~~oOo~~~

Ruby and Belle were working in their "office" when the phone rang. It was the coroner's office calling with the latest discoveries. Regina Mills' body had been cleaned before being dumped into the water. Besides her being murdered the perpetrator had taken special care to her body. The blindfold was most likely a sign of remorse. Covering your victim's eyes so they didn't see you… which pretty much meant the perpetrator knew the victim.

"Okay, thank you." Belle said when she put the phone down. "That's something at least."

"Any luck?" Ruby asked her.

"Maybe… they found a foreign hair in the blindfold." Belle replied, "They are ready to do the autopsy so we should go."

Both women got up and made their way over to their car. Unbeknownst to them Regina had slipped into the car while they were still inside. She realized that they probably wouldn't notice her but she was still uncertain whether they could hear her. Regina was never one to just sit around and wait, so she had followed Kathryn into the building until she'd noticed the agents working in a separate room. When she heard them talk about the autopsy, she knew she needed to go with them because Regina had no clue how to get to the morgue.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry, Cora and Karen were sitting at the table in Henry's living room. In the middle of the table was a box with several photos and photo albums of Regina. Henry was going through them trying to find the perfect one for the funeral. He wanted a recent one of course and a happy one because Regina although very focused on her goals was mostly cheerful. But finding the perfect one proved a difficult task, there were no words to describe how it felt to plan the funeral of your own child. It was unnatural.

The atmosphere was even tenser because Cora disliked Karen and didn't even try to hide her disdain. As a result Karen didn't really like Cora either, so both women threw each other some scornful looks from time to time. Henry did his best to ignore them and grieve in his own way. As long as things didn't get out of hand it was okay for him. Sebastian walked into the house and was the first one to break the silence, "We should play 'Smells like Teen Spirit' it was one of Regina's favorites."

Cora raised an eyebrow at him and replied, "Nah, we should play 'I'm a Believer'. That's her favorite song; we used to sing it during every road trip. Remember how she couldn't get enough of it?"

Henry looked disbelievingly at Cora, "Yes, she did when she was 7."

Karen added, "I don't think I've ever heard Regina play that song."

"Well, it's her favorite if you ask me." Cora said adamantly.

Henry and Karen looked at each other but remained silent when Sebastian was about to object Karen gave him a stern look and moved her head slightly and the boy fell silent.

Karen was going through a book with funeral flower arrangements when she encountered a beautiful piece with lilies and white and purple orchids. "Regina would've loved this." She said to no one in particular but Henry swiftly looked at the picture of the flowers and agreed with her but Cora again scrunched her nose and said, "Since when... Regina loves sunflowers."

Karen opened her mouth but it was Henry who spoke first, "Cora, Regina used to like sunflowers when she was a kid. But recently she has professed on numerous occasions that she loves lilies and orchids; especially purple ones."

Cora felt a headache coming on, it seemed Henry and Karen were trying to be as difficult as possible. She had never heard Regina talk about loving lilies and orchids and what was this about purple, when her favorite color was blue. "That's not how I remember it." She said haughtily.

"That's because you were never around..." Karen said under her breath but Cora had heard her and wanted to retaliate, however Henry couldn't bare them fighting at this moment so he quickly said, "I think it's a good idea to play 'I'm a Believer' at the funeral."

Cora's head snapped so fast in Henry's direction it physically hurt, she couldn't be happier with Henry siding with her though. What did this Karen person know about her daughter she thought and snorted. Karen didn't mind as long as this kept them from getting into another argument she was more than happy to play along. Without too many other arguments all parents planned the rest of Regina's funeral.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina's clothing had been carefully removed after the coroner and his assistant had thoroughly checked them for fibers, hairs, bodily fluids and blood stains. Rigor mortis and lividity had also been checked helping them determine time of death more precisely. It had also confirmed, which they already suspected, that her body had indeed been murdered elsewhere. The lack of petechial hemorrhages also meant she probably wasn't asphyxiated either.

Samples of her blood had been sent to the lab too but the coroner had executed an instant drug test, which had tested positive for XTC. Doctor Whale proceeded with the examination of the body but only found a couple of bruises that were a couple of days old and some scratches that weren't fresh either. However, he documented all of them and had his assistant take photographs. Some X-rays had been taken and he had noticed a head wound which could have been the cause of death.

Her fingernails were clipped and scraped clean any material underneath had been sent to the lab where it could be examined for traces of skin or blood from her attacker. But since Regina's body had been cleaned methodically he doubted they would find much evidence; except for the single hair they'd pulled from between the blindfold they hadn't found anything. A vaginal examination was performed because there was some bruising which could indicate two things: rough sex somewhere in the hours before she died or she had been raped.

Agent Lucas and French walked in, Regina close behind them, upon seeing her own naked body she gasped. She didn't think it was possible to ever get used to seeing that. She was so focused on her own corpse that she almost missed what was being said.

"The head wound suggests blunt force trauma as COD." Dr. Whale informed the agents, "Nevertheless I'll have to do a brain examination to confirm this."

"Have you found anything else that might help us with the investigation?" Agent French asked.

"Not really, I found some bruises around the pubic area that might suggest rape but nothing solid no." He told them solemnly.

Rape... the word made Regina lose focus again. She couldn't have been raped, could she? But she also couldn't remember the last time she had had sex. Things between Leo and Regina had not been going well for a while now, so they hadn't been intimate in a couple of months. Regina wasn't the type to sleep around either so rape was entirely possible. The word went through her mind so loud it made her head spin.

She shut her eyes tightly hoping the sensation would stop, when she was satisfied she felt well enough to focus on the autopsy again she slowly opened them.

"Oh yes, before I forget I performed a drug test and I found traces of XTC. A full tox screen will be provided by the lab I'm sure." The fair-haired doctor had taken a scalpel while giving this last detail to the agents; he turned back to Regina's body and put the scalpel at Regina's left shoulder, "I was just going to perform the Y-incision to see what else there is to find."

XTC?! Y-incision?! Regina wanted to call out, tell them they were wrong. She wasn't dead! She wasn't raped! She was fine! She was standing right here and she was okay. But words failed her, everything failed her. Her knees buckled and she fell sideways against the wall supporting her weight on unsteady legs barely staying upright. She had never done drugs in her entire life, this was wrong. They were wrong! She looked back at the doctor who was ready to cut into her and she just couldn't take it anymore, she needed air and she needed it now. Without looking back she ran until she was outside and then she ran some more...

~~~oOo~~~

Out of breath and out of sorts Regina arrived on Kathryn's doorstep, she rang the bell nonstop until Kathryn opened her door. She raised an eyebrow at Regina but seeing the distraught look on the brunette's face made her features soften and she opened her door so Regina could come in. They walked into Kathryn's bedroom but Regina wanted to take a shower first and change into something more comfortable.

It also gave her some time to compose herself. When she entered Kathryn's bedroom she noticed the blonde was working on her laptop. Regina was wearing a white tank top and a pair of shorts and plopped down next to her best friend asking, "What are you up to?"

"I've done some research..." Kathryn informed; upon noticing the confused look on Regina's face she elaborated, "I wanted to know what you are... so I googled paranormal activities and parallel universes and you would be surprised with the amount of information I've found."

"Like what?" Regina asked skeptically but if she was completely honest she was a bit curious as well.

"Like... there are quite a few stories about paranormal activity. Let's take this one... poltergeists." While saying this Kathryn clicked on the link shown on the site she was currently visiting and quickly read what it had to say, "A poltergeist is a type of ghost responsible for physical disturbance... that doesn't seem to be fitting." The blonde clicked on another link and read, "A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear living... vary from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike visions. Doesn't sound right either... you are no vision you are real, you can't just appear anywhere and you can't walk through walls or anything, can you?"

Regina shook her head; she couldn't do any of those things. She also became tired and needed to rest. When someone touched her she felt it, the wound on her head hurt so she felt pain as well. And... emotions, when she encountered Emma she definitely felt something. "I don't think I'm a ghost... I also doubt the internet is going to help us because I've never heard about something like me. I feel real things, I can't fly or appear anywhere without walking or driving there and I don't really want to haunt a place or person, I just want to know what happened to me and who's responsible."

Kathryn nodded in understanding and squeezed Regina's shoulder; she wanted to know what had happened as well, "So what do you know so far?"

"Not much," Regina answered and took a notepad and pen from Kathryn's desk, "Let's see I know I was last seen at the Archer Fest but I don't really remember anything. You worked the bar, didn't you? How was I behaving?"

"Wild! You were definitely in a mood to party."

Regina's eyes widened and Kathryn asked her what was wrong so Regina explained the preliminary examination had shown she had taken drugs prior to dying. Kathryn couldn't believe what she was hearing; she just knew her best friend wouldn't do drugs. "That's impossible! Yes you were partying hard but I blame that on the alcohol you had consumed." Kathryn sounded like she was trying to convince herself as well but Regina decided not to comment on that.

Regina wrote 'ARCHER FEST = wild' on top of the notepad and under that she wrote 'SEE'ERS: Cora, Zelena, Kathryn' Kathryn looked at what Regina was writing and asked, "Cora and Zelena, can see you too? Who else?"

"Some hot chic I encountered at the championship yesterday."

"Some hot chic?" Kathryn asked suddenly very interested in this conversation, Regina was usually very reserved about her feelings and she was not one to refer to another woman as 'some hot chic'. This was new and therefore exciting. "Do you know her?"

"Not really, I've never seen her. Her name is Emma something..." Regina's voice trailed off and it looked as if she was lost in thought, "I wouldn't mind seeing her again though."

Very interesting indeed... but for now the blonde decided to remain silent, she just watched Regina complete the list on the notepad: Emma was added to the list of see'ers. Next the brunette wrote XTC?, Rape?, B&B, foreign hair, blunt force, Muddy River each word was written on a new line. She chewed the pen thinking if she knew something else but she didn't, she showed Kathryn the list and they exchanged some theories before going to bed.

~~~oOo~~~

This had to be the strangest thing in her 'life' or the second strangest thing because waking up and finding your own dead body in a bathtub was probably even stranger. Regina was leaning against an outer wall in a church that was slowly but steadily filling up with sad people. Some of them were actually crying, others just sniffed and some were barely reacting at all. One of them however looked very indifferent, like she wanted to be anywhere but there and a small smile broke onto Regina's features when she realized it was none other than Emma.

Zelena arrived a little later and walked up to Leo to talk to him but he quickly dismissed her saying they probably shouldn't talk out in the open since he was being investigated and he nodded his head towards the agents that walked into the church to show their respects. Though he suspected they also wanted to gauge his reaction and being too friendly to his ex's sister was probably giving them the wrong impression. Zelena didn't like this however she told him she understood and joined the rest of her family in the front row.

Emma's hands were buried deep inside the pockets of her leather jacket and she slouched sulkily further into the church. Sarah nudged her and said, "Emma honey, I love you but could you please act like a normal human being and pay some respect for the grieving family."

Emma hissed back, "I don't understand why I had to come I don't even know the person that died."

Sarah shook her head and indicated that Emma had to continue walking; she did and noticed the weird chick she had met the other day leaning against the wall. At least one other person looked like they didn't want to be there. Emma's mood was instantly lighter and she smiled to herself while following Sarah and Sheriff but instead of following them towards their seats she walked towards the leaning figure, hands still casually in her pockets.

She watched the brunette watch her and smiled cheekily and winked ever so slightly. The brunette's cheeks flushed and Emma felt pleased with herself, at least she hadn't lost her touch completely. When she was within hearing distance she said, "Hi... again."

The priest welcomed everyone and spoke some consoling words; he read a part from the bible before announcing the first speaker. Sebastian walked up to the altar and told a story about meeting Regina and not liking her because they fought over a stupid game on their Playstation until she started helping him with his schoolwork, something she was very good at and he liked, even loved her ever since.

Regina was touched by his words but was unable to tear her eyes away from the enigmatic blonde that had just greeted her like it was the most natural thing to do at one's funeral. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit before asking, "So, someone looks like they want to be anywhere but here... how come?"

"Mom made me come... I hate funerals, everyone is so fucking fake. No one ever says what they really think about the deceased, when you die no matter what you did, you suddenly become some kind of hero... Besides I don't even know this person."

Regina's brow furrowed and she raised a skeptical eyebrow at the oblivious blonde. She refrained from saying anything so Emma asked, "Why are you looking like that? It's not like you want to be here either... Why else would someone choose to stand here all by themselves? Whose funeral is it anyway?"

Regina shook her head slightly and laughed, pointing towards the casket with her picture on it, "Mine." She said as if it was the most normal thing in the world and Emma's jaw dropped to the floor.

When she had somewhat recovered she stuttered, "Wha... Ho... Huh?"

"How very eloquent of you... If you want to make a good impression you should try harder, dear." Regina playfully uttered and winked, not really knowing where this playfulness was coming from nevertheless she liked it... a lot. Zelena was the next speaker and she was talking about their relationship and how much she was going to miss her sister and Regina thought Emma had a point about people never telling the entire truth after someone had died.

She looked at her mother and father who were crying and looked like they were in shock. At least her father looked like he was; she had never seen him like this. He seemed broken and Regina wished it was he who saw her and not her mother. Emma was still looking at her in disbelieve but it looked like she had recovered enough from her initial shock.

"I was trying to impress you and I'm normally more eloquent but what is the proper response when someone tells you you are attending their funeral?"

"Good question indeed, you are forgiven." Regina liked this banter between them, she briefly wondered if this was normal behavior when people were grieving. She decided she didn't care, she was still here and it wasn't her fault almost no one saw her. "So, you were trying to impress me huh?"

Emma blushed a bit but didn't show this in her posture; if possible she looked even more confident and replied, "Wasn't that obvious? It's not every day you encounter a stunning woman like yourself and besides we've met before."

"Once upon a dream?" Regina laughed softly.

"You really don't remember, do you?"

For the second time Emma referred to meeting Regina but she had no recollection about this encounter and she seriously doubted she would forget something like that. The brunette tried to remember this meeting but came up blank, she wanted to say something when she heard the priest announce the song they were going to play and the brunette became livid. How could she?! Regina hated that song! It reminded her about the bad relationship her parents had had, the fights, the drinking, everything...

Without saying a word she ran up to the music installation wanting to shut it all down. A confused Emma followed suit, Cora who noticed first Regina then the blonde running up the stairs realized Regina was very real and not some apparition or figment of her mind and followed them as well. Kathryn foresaw trouble and wanted to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand and she too got up to follow them. Zelena's curiosity got the better of her and she didn't want to miss any of this.

The last person getting up from his seat was Sheriff Nottingham; he was slightly shocked because if he wasn't mistaken he had just seen a ghost. Regina or someone who looked surprisingly like her had just walked by them. That was insane, wasn't it? But of course his idiot foster daughter was also running up the stairs, so he had to get to the bottom of this.

Cora entered the room right before Regina could turn off the music and said, "Honey, what's wrong?"

"How dare you ask me that? I hate that song, I ... I... have to turn it off!" Regina screamed back at Cora.

Kathryn, Zelena and Emma entered the room together and Kathryn immediately tried to calm both mother and daughter but she wasn't very successful. Regina was livid, Cora oblivious and unhelpful and on top of that Sheriff Nottingham entered the room as well demanding to know what the hell was going on. Like most people who had seen Regina for the first time after she had died he was also in shock.

"How's this possible? How? You are supposed to be dead!" He yelled at Regina.

"Tell me about it." Regina replied sarcastically.

"So you can all see her?" he asked to everyone in the room but no one said anything, "Please, answer me! Because I might be going crazy at the moment and I need to know what's going on, I _need_ to understand."

Cora, Emma, Zelena and Kathryn all nodded but it was Regina who spoke, "Yes, they can all see me and apparently so can you. We don't know why or how any of this is possible but it is, okay?"

Keith blinked his eyes a couple of times, still unsure if this was all real. He expected to wake up every moment now. At that particular moment Sebastian chose to walk into the room as well. He knew Regina like his song better and wanted to play that as well without informing his parents or Cora but the boy was shocked to see all those people there.

Sheriff Nottingham watched the boy's reaction closely and noticed he was shocked to see so many people there but didn't really react to Regina being there. He stammered something about wanting to play Regina's favorite song but Keith had to be sure. He asked, "Sebastian, do you see Regina?"

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 _ **Still love reviews... so hit that button and give me your opinion ;-)**_


	5. Surveillance Feed

_**A/N: the end of the school year is near so it might take some time before I'm able to finish the next chapter. I hope you enjoy this one while (patiently) waiting for the next update ;-)**_

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Sebastian was looking at everyone in the small room as if they had somehow magically sprouted two heads. He didn't understand adults and wondered whether this was some kind of twisted joke or if they were for real. He looked at them one by one but Regina wasn't there. How could she be, she was in that white coffin downstairs. Resting ... forever and ever. "No, Regina is dead!" he said angrily before walking past them and playing 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', he returned downstairs and left the stupid adults.

Keith simply stated, "So we're the only ones who see her. Why?"

The fact that he had hurt Sebastian for no reason and the fact that he was addressing the others but not her pissed off Regina even more. "Um hello, I'm here too you know! And to answer your question, we don't know." Without another word Regina left them to figure it all out, she just had to get away from there.

Shortly after leaving she arrived at her house, she opened the door and walked in. Once inside breathing in the familiar smell of the house she vividly remembered her father's broken expression and Regina wanted nothing more than to comfort him in any way she could. She was standing in front of the mirror that hung in the hallway, she breathed on it a couple of times making it fog over and with her right index finger she wrote 'Regina is here' in the fog.

Only a couple of seconds later the fog and her words had disappeared and Regina was staring blankly at herself thinking how symbolic that simple act had been. She too had disappeared from her father's life in a matter of seconds and although she was still there he didn't know that and she would never appear in his life again. A single tear rolled over her face and she wiped it away before running up the stairs towards her bedroom where she grabbed a bag and some clothes. Living here was impossible; she couldn't bear watching her father's grief day in day out. She didn't want to return to her mother's either, she was still upset about the fiasco at her funeral and the fact Cora had ignored her.

When she had everything she needed, she made her way downstairs and stepped out of the house. Lingering just a second longer before taking her bike and riding to Kathryn's house. She hoped her friend would be home by now but even if she wasn't Regina had a spare key so she could let herself in.

She didn't have to use it though, only seconds after ringing the doorbell Kathryn opened her door. Regina showed her the bag and asked if it was okay she stayed with her for the time being. Kathryn couldn't be happier and both women walked towards Kathryn's bedroom. The blonde swiftly made some room in one of her closets for Regina's clothing. The brunette opened the bag and put the first items away when Kathryn asked, "Emma Swan, huh?"

Regina was glad her back was turned to her friend because even the mention of Emma's name made her cheeks color and a smile break out on her face. "What about her?" Regina asked casually, or at least she hoped it sounded that way.

"Of all people... you like Sheriff's foster daughter..." Kathryn chuckled.

This was news to Regina and she quickly turned around saying, "She is? Then why haven't I seen her before?"

"She's a couple of years younger than us and besides she was in some institution for months." Kathryn said matter-of-factly.

Regina grew confused again, she had no idea who Emma Swan was or that she had been in an institution. For a moment she grew worried as well and she asked hesitantly, "What kind of institution?"

"I don't know really but from what I've heard she either had a drug addiction or she tried to commit suicide or both." Kathryn was still a little surprised by her friend's sudden interest in Emma but it was way too exhilarating for her to mind it.

"Was she at the Archer Fest?" Regina asked.

Kathryn tried to remember if she'd seen Emma at the Archer Fest and she wasn't sure, "I guess she might have been... Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering... you and Zelena and mom were at the Archer Fest as well and all three of you can see me..." Regina said and Kathryn briefly looked away guiltily but recovered before Regina noticed. "She also mentioned twice now that we've met before but I can't remember when or where."

"What about Sheriff?"

"I don't know... He wasn't at the Archer Fest... You don't think he killed me, do you?" Regina asked and both women looked at each other thinking about this. The thought sounded ridiculous to both of them and they started laughing, "Nah, that couldn't be."

Regina took the notepad and added Sheriff Nottingham to her list of see'ers. Five people were able to see her and she had no idea why they were when others weren't. Cora, Zelena, Kathryn and possibly Emma had attended the Archer Fest where Regina had been too. Where or when she had met Keith Nottingham remained unknown.

~~~oOo~~~

Cora went home after the funeral feeling mentally drained, she had just buried her daughter but that same daughter was still among them but only a few people could see her. She had been so convinced that all of this was a result of her drinking issues and that alone was enough to keep her motivated to not drink again but now... She craved a drink more than anything and she knew that if she didn't get away from this place she was going to pick up that sweet bottle of vodka, enjoy the cracking sound opening a new cap always made and savor the taste and burning sensation the liquid made when it went down her throat.

Cora could practically taste it; she desperately needed to get away and do something useful or her addiction would win out. She decided to visit her office and finish some of the reports that had been waiting on her desk for far too long.

Sitting behind her desk, reading several reports and signing them had a calming effect however the lingering feeling she needed a drink was still there. She squeezed her eyes shut willing the feeling away, opening them several moments later her gaze landed on her keychain and that was when she noticed that something was wrong. She quickly stood up and checked all the pockets of her pantsuit, when she came up empty she checked her briefcase, her drawers, her cabinets... everything. She rummaged through the reports on her desk, growing more and more desperate but still not finding what she had lost.

Cora yelled, "Shit shit shit!" and threw all the reports on the ground.

~~~oOo~~~

Emma walked into the kitchen, grabbed a coke from the fridge and walked back towards her bedroom. She had seen Sheriff at the kitchen table but had chosen to ignore him. After what had happened at Regina's funeral that was probably a wise decision.

Keith, however, had a different opinion. "Wait." He demanded and Emma stopped in her tracks. She reluctantly turned around to face him, knowing full well that whatever was going to go down wouldn't be pleasant. "You need to get a job. You can't just hang around the house all day, doing nothing."

"Why not?" Emma asked being her usual defiant self.

"Because..." Sheriff replied in a menacing tone and walked closer to her backing her up against the wall behind her, "...this is _my_ house and I tell you to get a job." His voice was low and left no room to argue, he narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down, the contempt dripped from his features and Emma feared briefly he was going to hurt her.

Nevertheless, Emma wasn't one to cower away from anyone and said, "And what if no one wants to hire me, it's not like I have much experience and I can hardly tell them where I've been these last 10 months."

"Figure it out." He replied, "But see that you get a job or you can find another place to sleep because I'm sick and tired of working my ass off for the likes of you."

Emma nodded her understanding and wanted to get away from him but he wasn't done yet. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and added, "And another thing... NEVER talk about seeing Regina, you hear me! And stay away from her."

The blonde had no difficulty with the first part; she had no desire to talk to anyone about seeing Regina because they already thought the worst about her adding lunatic to the list wasn't what she desired. Staying away from Regina wasn't going to happen though because even if Emma wasn't sure what was going on between them, the brunette was far too intriguing to stay away from. Nonetheless she wasn't going to tell Sheriff this, she only nodded her understanding again and freed herself from his grasp before walking away.

Emma was riding through Darkton on her bike wondering where she was supposed to find a job. She had no credentials and no qualification of any kind; she had been in a mental institution for almost a year and hadn't finished school. And besides it wasn't that there were a lot of job openings in a town the size of a pea. Without really thinking where she was going she somehow ended up at Karen's grocery store.

They sold all kinds of things but mostly they sold fresh fruit and vegetables. Maybe she could help Karen out with whatever she had to offer, Emma wasn't picky. She wasn't in a position to be picky anyway. When she rode up to the store, Karen came out carrying a large cardboard box filled with vegetables; carrying might be a euphemism because the woman was struggling to hold the box.

Emma quickly jumped from her bike, dropping it to the ground in the same movement and ran up to Karen to take the box from her hands. Karen was very grateful because if it hadn't been for Emma Swan the box with vegetables would have crashed to the floor and she doubted her clients would be happy with that. The business was local so Karen often brought the supplies to her clients instead of them coming to her store.

"Thank you, you're my savior! I don't think I was going to make it." She said smiling at the younger woman.

"Sure, no problem. Where do you want this?" Emma said, holding up the box as if it were nothing. She was rather strong because of all the exercise she had done during her stay at the loony bin.

Karen showed Emma her van and Emma placed the box safely inside making sure if was fastened securely. She smiled at the older woman before asking, "Is there any chance I could come and work here?"

Both women were on their way back to the store, where Kathryn was working the checkout counter. She was genuinely surprised to see Emma and Karen talking but quickly focused back to the customer she was helping; though she kept her ears open hoping to pick up something about their conversation.

"I'm sorry, Emma, but we're not really hiring at the moment."

Emma's smile faltered but she wasn't giving up that easily, "I'll do whatever you want me to do, I don't mind. Cleaning, working in the warehouse, making deliveries, you name it and I'll do it." Karen looked sympathetically at the pleading blonde and was about to reject her again when she noticed the cute little pout and heard the words, "Please, it'll be an honor."

Kathryn was done and had overheard Emma pleading for a job and she couldn't help but think how great it would be to work with the blonde. Since she was one of the five people that were able to see Regina. And, it would give her the perfect opportunity to play matchmaker for her best friend. "Karen, I think it would be great to have an extra pair of hands around. There's plenty of work."

"Might be, but this extra pair of hands needs to get paid as well. Or do you think she'll work for free?"

"You don't have to pay me much and I don't have to work every day either. Just a couple of days a week, minimum wage." Emma added.

Karen couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards the dedication this young lady was showing in order to get this job. She also appreciated the fact that she had spontaneously applied for it. She looked from Emma to Kathryn to Emma again and rolled her eyes, no way she could decline those pouty faces. "Fine, when can you start?"

"Really? Thank you so very much!" Emma exclaimed and she was so enthusiastic that she said she could start immediately. Karen gave her precise instructions on what needed to be done and Emma set to work. Kathryn was supposed to show her around and she didn't mind one bit. She showed the strange girl the warehouse and where everything was supposed to be and what their system was to work as efficiently as possible.

"Can I ask you something?" Kathryn asked all of a sudden.

"Sure." Emma replied, tensing slightly because she had a feeling Kathryn was going to ask her about her stint in psychiatry.

"You know Regina too... Where have you met?"

Emma was visibly relieved about the question and chuckled, "Wouldn't you like to know?" Before quickly changing the topic, "So apples, bananas and oranges are supposed to go here?"

She deliberately indicated the wrong spot effectively stopping Kathryn's questioning because now she had to start her instructions all over again, thinking the mysterious blonde might be a little slow.

~~~oOo~~~

It was not a good day for Sheriff Nottingham, not a good day at all. Yesterday it was Regina's funeral and the event by itself was terrible enough but seeing Regina's ... whatever it was attending her own funeral was beyond eerie. It was unnatural and Keith had a fierce aversion to anything that was out of the ordinary. He disliked the fact that he had no explanation, how was it possible that five people were able to see and hear her and how was it possible that she was still there when he had seen her decaying body with his own eyes?

He went over the list of people that were able to see Regina in his head; three of them were more comprehensible than the others. Zelena and Cora were Regina's family and Kathryn her best friend chances were they saw each other on regular basis and all of them had attended the Archer Fest. Of course his foster daughter was able to see Regina as well, the urge to roll his eyes was too high to contain. He wondered where they had encountered one another. She had probably attended the Archer Fest as well. He hoped she wouldn't talk about it with anyone; people already had strong opinions about her... At least she had found a job as he had asked her and that pleased him.

Keith brought his attention back to the road; he was driving his police car through Darkton and it would be bad if the police started causing accidents. However that was nearly what happened; Sheriff Nottingham hit the brakes so hard it made the tires screech and the smell of burned rubber surrounded the air in the car. Luckily no one drove behind the squad car because he doubted a collision could have been avoided.

He blinked his eyes a couple of times and looked back at the thing that had made him hit the brakes. And sure enough there a couple of meters further was Regina riding her bike. He wondered where she was going and why and briefly considered driving up to her and ask her. Why couldn't she just be dead? This was unsettling and he didn't like it. At least his idiot foster daughter wasn't with her.

He started the engine again and drove back to the precinct. He wanted to know how the investigation was going and hoped that when all of this was over that everything would go back to normal and Regina would be gone for good. He parked the car in his usual spot and walked up to the agents asking, "Any new developments?"

Agent French was busy and didn't acknowledge him, Agent Lucas was standing in front of the evidence board again and answered with her back to him, "The warrant for the surveillance feed of the gas station will be here shortly. The cell tower that last transmitted signals to Regina's phone was located near the gas station, with any luck we'll catch a glimpse of whoever took Regina with them."

Sheriff Nottingham swallowed around the lump that had formed in his throat and he was relieved neither agent was paying him any attention. He quickly recovered and thanked them for their information before walking towards his office. It was then that he again saw Regina in the corner of his eye. She walked into the police station as if she worked there, getting to the agents' office casually. He shook his head deciding to pretend as if she wasn't there, fortunately she hadn't seen him.

A couple of hours later Agent Lucas walked into Keith's open office a warrant in hand and said, "We've got it! Belle discovered Cora's cell phone also made contact with that tower so we were going to ask her why she neglected to tell us this. You mind picking up the feed?"

"Not at all." He smiled widely taking the warrant Ruby handed him and getting up.

He was about to leave the station when he saw Regina for the umpteenth time that day. This had to stop! He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into an empty room, "Why are you here?"

"Because I want to solve my murder." Regina told him firmly.

"Shouldn't you let the police handle these things?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, if they were handling it right I would but they know nothing." Regina replied in the same tone. "I woke up in Room 108 at Mal's B&B. That's where I've been murdered."

An unreadable, dark look crossed Keith's face before he said, "And?"

"You are the Sheriff... can't you go and have a look, say you got an anonymous call or something..." Regina pleaded, hoping for once Sheriff would prove her wrong and be a decent police officer.

A frown grew on his forehead when he was contemplating whether or not he was going to help Regina and decided that the easiest way to get rid of her was to help her. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. But in the mean time I don't want you to bother me anymore."

Now it was Regina's turn to become confused, she hadn't bothered him and had no desire to do so. She just nodded and both of them exited the room almost colliding with the two agents that were on their way to their car.

Ruby was surprised Sheriff was still there and asked him why. He quickly made up an excuse about forgetting something and chivalrously opened the door for both agents before following them outside. Regina got in the car with them and Keith walked towards his own car.

~~~oOo~~~

Agents Lucas and French walked into Cora's office which resembled more a warzone than an office. Papers, pens, folders were everywhere: on the floor, on her desk, on the seats in front of her desk ... everywhere! Cora was busy rummaging through them in a state of great distress. She didn't even acknowledge the agents or her daughter who had also slipped into the office.

Ruby cleared her throat to gain Cora's attention but she had to do it several times before it worked. Cora looked apologetic though and started to apologize for the state of her office explaining she had lost something very important. The agent waved away the apology claiming she understood.

Cora asked, "What brings you here, agents?"

Agent French replied, "Some information concerning the case came to our attention..." she trailed off to see if Cora was still focused on them, when she was satisfied Cora was, Belle continued, "Why did you neglect to tell us you've visited that gas station that was Regina's last known location after she left the Archer Fest, according to her phone records?"

Cora looked confused, she had zero recollection of any gas station; of course she knew the one they were referring to but she couldn't remember going there. She never drove a car so buying gas was unnecessary, still she thought back to that night but came up blank. She shrugged and said sincerely, "I have absolutely no idea."

"Are you kidding me, mom!" Regina said angrily and Cora looked slightly in Regina's direction. She had attentively placed herself in the vicinity of the agents.

Cora's shoulders slumped and she lowered her gaze to the floor. "I was very drunk. I'm sorry."

Both agents had gathered as much but still didn't understand why Cora was acting more and more suspicious. First she told people she had seen Regina, then she reacted strangely to the news that Regina had been murdered and now she neglected to tell them she had visited the last place Regina had been at, claiming she didn't remember being there.

"You're hiding something." Regina said matter-of-factly crossing her arms in front of her. "I know that guilty look... Please, mom, tell them the truth. You owe me that at least... I died that night you know!" Regina was practically shouting at her mother, not understanding why she was being this calm when she possibly knew something vital for the investigation.

"I'm sorry! I went to the gas station to buy more booze! They didn't want to give me more at the Archer Fest so I went and bought more elsewhere. But I promise you, I'll stop drinking! I have stopped and I will continue to do so!" Cora exclaimed, surprising both agents with the sudden outburst.

They both had the feeling she was talking to someone else in the room and Belle quickly looked around only to be met with the rest of the office and apart from them no one was there. Still, Cora's sudden confession was weird. Belle stood up and said, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Mills. We'll let ourselves out." Hearing those words Ruby immediately stood up as well and followed Belle.

"Why are we leaving?" she whispered to Belle when they were at the door.

Belle replied in a hushed tone, "Because I think she's on the verge of a mental breakdown and there's no use pushing her in this state. Besides, she said she was very drunk and went to buy more liquor, I don't think she would have recognized her own daughter if she had come face to face with her."

Regina also wanted to leave but Cora was quicker and grabbed her arm gently, forcing her daughter to look at her. "I meant what I said you know, I will stop drinking for you. Will you please come home?"

Regina looked at her mother's pleading eyes and wanted nothing more than to believe her, believe in her, but she knew better than to believe the empty words of an alcoholic. "No, I really want to believe you but you've promised this before and every time you started drinking again. Prove it and then I'll reconsider."

The young woman pulled her arm free and followed the agents but she didn't get in the car with them. The school was near to her father's house and Regina desperately wanted to be with him. She wanted to talk to him and hold him.

Unfortunately her father was still unable to see her and when Regina got there she found an empty shell of the man he used to be. He was normally so vibrant and easygoing, with a great sense of humor. Now he just sat there, he had already lost weight and his eyes were dull. It was evident he had been crying until there were no tears left; in his lap was the photo that had stood on Regina's casket. He held onto it as if letting go would make his daughter disappear completely.

Regina sat down on the couch next to him, putting her arm around his shoulder and laying her head on top of it. She cried silent tears and hoped with all her might that he was somehow able to feel her presence.

~~~oOo~~~

She had turned her office upside down and inside out and still hadn't found what she was looking for. She had realized quite some time ago that it was useless to look for it in her office, it just wasn't there.

There was another place where she could have left it... Cora got onto her bike and rode to the BMX club; she had probably left it in the canteen. She practically jumped from her bike upon arriving, placed it against the outside wall but didn't bother to lock it. She ran inside and immediately looked behind the bar, opening every cupboard and looking inside. She even looked in the empty beer glasses but it just wasn't there.

Slowly realization dawned on Cora; she hadn't lost it... it had been stolen! Her jaw clenched and her eyes shut tightly, her head was spinning and for the first time in forever alcohol wasn't involved. She tried to swallow around the lump that had formed in her throat. This was not good, not good at all. Her knees buckled, on top of her lightheadedness and she was immensely grateful for the barstool that was standing at arm's length, she grabbed it and pulled herself carefully onto it. Breathing in and out in a slow calming motion, or at least that was the intent. She had no idea how she was going to explain this...

Then it hit her and a new wave of nausea came over her, her lips pursed and she put her face in her hands. She rubbed her face slowly and gradually reopened her eyes, there was no use delaying the inevitable she could just as well get this over with. She stood up carefully and walked over to a certain cabinet, she opened it and saw the object, she had been sure wouldn't be there, and a flicker of hope went through her. Cora's shaky hands reached out and grabbed the metal box; she put it on top of the bar and opened it.

A sharp intake of breath followed by a curse was all that could be heard. The box of course was empty... it was gone, all of it!

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff Nottingham was sitting at his desk, scrolling on his computer. He had easily acquired the surveillance feed from the gas station and decided to watch it before Agents Nosy and Curious could interfere. He had called of course to clear this with them and they had agreed that there was no time to waste so he could go ahead and watch the tape.

He had fast forwarded through three hours of vehicles come and go but nothing had stood out. Until he reached the hour when Regina's cell phone had made contact with the tower. A very expensive classic car drove up to the gas station, such a car was bound to be noticed. The driver probably got back from an event or was just driving the car to avoid the motor dying. The passenger side door opened and a very drunk young woman stumbled out of the car.

Keith watched with interest to the scene unfolding; the driver didn't seem to be bothered too much and got out as well. Either they knew where the cameras were or they coincidentally didn't get caught; the camera didn't get a clear shot of the driver's features anyway. The young woman stumbled a little further from the car and got sick. Whether she was dry heaving or really throwing up was hard to see on the grainy image but it was clear she wasn't feeling too well.

The driver seemed to be concerned and talked to the young woman, but got shoved away violently. The driver tried one more time to grab the woman and guide her back to the car but was again pushed away, the young woman was clearly shouting something at the driver who lost patience and angrily got back to the car, got in and drove off. Leaving the disheveled young woman behind who turned towards the camera. Keith paused the frame at the exact moment and was shocked to recognize Regina's face.

He rewound the tape and watched the car and the driver more closely, the car seemed familiar and he tried to remember where he had seen the car before. Nothing came to mind until he noticed a glimmer of light under the rearview mirror. He zoomed in and recognized the object that was hanging from the mirror; it was a silver running Grey Hound.

"Shit! This can't be!" he swallowed thickly.

He quickly glanced around and was satisfied to see that he was still alone. He selected the entire clip from the car arriving to Regina walking out of the camera's range; he hesitated briefly but hit the 'delete' button anyway, he released the breath he had been holding, a comforting feeling washing over him relaxing him.

He took out his phone and texted Agent Lucas: VIDEO FEED WAS A BUST.


	6. Discoveries

_**A/N: Finally found the time to finish this chapter. Normally this would have been two chapters but because it took me a lot longer than expected I decided to post them together. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the next one soon. Enjoy!**_

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Flickers of Room 108 flashed before her eyes. _The bathtub with her body in it and her blood, so much blood... Regina waking up on the bed and seeing a shadow moving ominously near her. Another one of the plastic tarp, which made a noise that was driving her crazy. A face, too dark to be recognized. Pain and then ... nothing._ Regina woke with a shock, bathing in her own sweat. She was only wearing a tank top and boxers and it took her a moment to recognize her environment. Her heart was beating so fast it physically hurt and her head was swimming. The sudden jerk her body had made had woken Kathryn with whom she shared the bed.

She looked at her friend and gave her a moment to recover from whatever nightmare she had had. Regina swallowed a couple of times and tried to control her breathing. When her heart had slowed down a bit she looked at Kathryn and asked in a tiny voice, "Was this all just a bad dream?"

"I don't know..." Kathryn replied honestly, because she was still as much in the dark about all that was going on as Regina. Maybe they had indeed dreamed it all.

Regina lay back down, slowly, because she was already dizzy enough from all the contrasting questions and thoughts that were ransacking her brain. Could this really be a dream? "Why would someone want to kill me?" she asked timidly, "I mean, it has to be someone I know, right? I would never go to an abandoned hotel with a stranger..."

Kathryn was glad her friend wasn't watching her because the same guilty expression that had crossed her face several times the last couple of days was back again. She slightly shook her head in a clearing motion before replying, "I honestly don't know... We have more questions than answers. But you're still here, maybe you aren't really dead... maybe we entered some kind of twilight zone and we experienced the same dream?" Kathryn sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as Regina.

The brunette just shrugged and let out a long breath, none of it was making sense but if she were murdered she would make sure they caught the killer and so far the police and FBI weren't doing a great job.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff Nottingham entered Leo's bedroom after briefly alerting him of his presence. It was early in the morning but Leo was already working out which pleased Keith immensely, he was so proud of his nephew much prouder than of his failure of a daughter. He shook his head in disdain when thoughts of Emma came to his mind before he stepped further into the room and sat on Leo's bed.

"Is there something wrong, uncle?" Leo asked but didn't stop the sit-ups he was doing.

"Should there be?" Keith asked cryptically.

Leo didn't answer immediately; he had just ended his round of 250 sit-ups and went on to do his 100 push-ups. "Not that I know." His uncle was known for his weird style of questioning, probably an occupational hazard but he was acting more cryptic than Leo was caring for.

"What about Regina?" Sheriff pushed, he wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting from Leo but he had to make sure his nephew had nothing to do with it.

"She died." Leo answered matter-of-factly, getting to his knees because his uncle was making it difficult to concentrate on his workout session.

Sheriff suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders roughly and pulled him to his feet, his face redder and angrier than Leo ever remembered seeing. "What's wrong with you, boy?!" he screamed at the youngster while shaking him a little. "Are you trying to get arrested? Why are you acting like it doesn't matter that your girlfriend died?"

Keith's fingers were digging painfully into Leo's shoulders and the young racer just knew they would leave marks. He was genuinely afraid Sheriff was going to strike him, it wouldn't be the first time but he had never been this fearful because his uncle had never been this enraged. In a way to save his own ass he yelled back, "Of course, I care! But it doesn't matter because there's nothing I can do about it to change it! And she was my _ex,_ not my _girlfriend."_

"If you care so much why are you acting like this?! Tell me you had nothing to do with it, please!" Sheriff had calmed down a bit but was still a little on edge.

Tears welled up in Leo's eyes and he broke down, "Of course not... I loved her but we weren't right for each other. You were right all along..."

Keith pulled his nephew in a hug and consoled him briefly before leaving him to check on his mother. Mal was in the kitchen downstairs making herself a cup of coffee and although she had her back turned to Keith he noticed her slumped shoulders and knew she was worried about something. He approached her and gently rubbed her arms before kissing the top of her head, this made her smile a little.

He asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing..." she sighed heavily, "Everything."

"Tell me."

"I'll never get the B&B ready by opening night." She sipped her coffee with a solemn expression.

Keith pulled Mal in his arms and vowed he would do whatever it took to help her get it ready.

~~~oOo~~~

Emma was sitting on a large comfy couch but was feeling anything but comfy, her hands were fidgeting in her lap and her legs were trembling. She tried to dry her clammy palms by rubbing them on her thighs but it wasn't really working. She hated being here... She knew it was for her own good, the doctor needed to make sure everything was okay, that she was sane. But she never felt weirder than being psychoanalyzed by her shrink. The woman was just sitting there watching the blonde and it made her feel even more nervous, couldn't she just start the questioning already.

Emma glanced in her therapist's direction but it seemed the woman wasn't going to open her mouth any time soon, being fed up with just sitting there she decided to start the conversation. "Have you ever made a connection with someone that was far beyond anything you've ever experienced?" she asked.

Doctor Lucas just looked at her, scribbled something on her notepad - or pretended to scribble something Emma wasn't sure - and asked, "Can you describe how it made you feel?"

Emma sighed, "It's strong... that's all I really know. It's not someone I know, we just met and there's this ... I don't know..." The blonde trailed off suddenly afraid she was sounding insane already.

"This strong connection..." Doctor Lucas helped.

"Yeah, it's like we were meant for each other. Like all my life nothing made sense except us meeting. When our eyes met it was like we were seeing each other's souls. But I don't know if this feeling is real."

"What do you mean? Are you afraid it's unrequited?"

"No it's not that... but..." Emma couldn't continue, how could she tell her therapist that the person she was having this connection with had died and was in fact already buried. That sure as hell didn't sound like something a sane person would say. The blonde rolled her eyes at herself and said, "You know, forget what I said. Probably my medication talking..." Emma hoped desperately that Doctor Lucas would buy her lame excuse.

The therapist narrowed her eyes at Emma not really knowing what she should think about this sudden change in their conversation, she instantly knew Emma was holding something back, something important. After another long silence she asked, "Is this a real person?" Eugenia wasn't sure what made her ask this question but knowing Emma's background there was a real possibility that this was exactly the question she needed to ask.

Emma tried not to react to the question but she knew she had failed; her eyebrows had shot up to her hairline so fast she was sure they would permanently reside there. She swallowed inaudibly and bit the inside of her cheek, her entire body went rigid and she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. The beeping of the alarm, indicating their session was completed, had never sounded sweeter than today. Without hesitating Emma stood abruptly and announced, "Looks like our time is up."

The older woman looked like she really wanted Emma to stay and answer the question but she also knew there was no way she could keep Emma there as the session had ended. So she nodded briefly indicating that the young blonde was free to go.

~~~oOo~~~

"Are the DNA results back yet?" SA French asked one of the police officers, who quickly shook his head. Belle rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time, these cops were really unhelpful, not that they could somehow affect the DNA testing but they were just sitting around waiting for clues to fall in their laps. None of them had found anything useful.

"Did anyone come up with anything useful by any chance?" she asked loudly and was met swiftly with a lot of confused looks, some showed contempt as well. "Really?! Not one of you was able to find something?! Has anyone looked at Regina Mills' laptop that has been sitting there for a whole day already?" The only answer she received was a couple of blinks and she suppressed the urge to groan, she took a calming breath before saying, "You, officer..."

"Smith, ma'am." The young blonde cop offered.

"Officer Smith, look at the laptop and ask someone to assist you." She grabbed the laptop and put it on a table where another cop was already sitting, together they started to work on it.

"Come on, people I expected a little bit more from a close community like this! These cases don't solve themselves, you know." Agent French told them sternly.

"That's right! What are you all waiting for?" Sheriff Nottingham spoke up for the first time. Quickly all of them started doing something, some picked up the phone. Others went to the evidence board to see if there was anything they might have missed but finally all of them did something.

Pleased with herself Belle approached Ruby who was still looking at Regina Mills' blood results. "It's weird, she clearly had high levels of XTC in her blood but everyone we've talked to so far swore Regina would never do drugs. You think the lab screwed up?"

"I honestly don't know, anything is possible in this area." Belle shrugged and sighed. "Is Mr. Mills here?"

"Yes, he and his wife are waiting outside I was just going to take them to an interview room. Are you coming?"

They lead the distraught father and stepmother into an interview room and told them what the results were. Henry almost broke down and frantically explained to them his Regina would never touch the stuff in her life. His wife seemed to share that opinion. Both agents had expected this but there had to be an explanation for these results and if Regina hadn't willingly touched the stuff, someone had drugged her. Question was, was this the same person that had murdered her or had someone with completely different motives put this in her drink?

While both agents were in the interview room Officer Jones and Sheriff looked over the surveillance tape from the gas station. Sheriff had made sure Officer Jones got the job because Jones wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and he was convinced he would never notice the glitch. A couple of minutes into watching the feed Officer Jones did notice something and he wanted to point it out. He even wanted to go back and confirm that he had indeed seen a glitch in the feed. Before he got the chance however Sheriff pointed to a motor cycle that had shown up on the video and asked what make and model it was. He deliberately named a wrong one, knowing full well that Jones was into classic engines and the young cop was successfully distracted by the rant he started about the classic bike that had appeared on the screen. He even went as far as pulling up pictures on Google to point out the differences, discarding the surveillance feed entirely.

~~~oOo~~~

"Yes I know it was 8000 dollar... No... Of course not, no no no that's not how... Yes, I'm sorry. I... I... I understand." Cora hung up the phone reluctantly and almost threw it against a wall but had enough self control not to...

She had called the chairman of the BMX club to inform him that she had somehow lost her keys and now someone had used them and helped themselves to the money the championship had provided them already. Of course the petty man was quick to point the finger at her, he was supposed to be a friend but the moment things got difficult he was quick to throw her under the bus.

Cora put her head in her hands; only aggravating the throbbing headache the more she tried to make sense of it. How could she have lost the keys, someone must have taken them from her. Even in her drunken state she normally remembered the important things.

It didn't take long for the board members to arrive at the canteen and Cora was visibly relieved because it was taking every ounce of self discipline to not drink the bar dry. She stood and walked over to her friend whom she had just called. "Archie, I'm so glad you're here. Now we can solve this together."

"Cora," he began hesitantly, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to get involved in this..."

"You're kidding me, right? I AM already in the middle of this..." Cora was getting upset.

"That's what I mean... If the position is still yours after this emergency meeting you should thank your lucky stars because frankly..."

Archie didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, Cora's palm connected with his face hard, "You were supposed to be _**my**_ friend! How could you do this to me?" she spat.

The redhead lowered his voice and replied, "Calm down, I'm still your friend and I will do everything I can to keep you on the board. So this," he gestured to his burning cheek, "was uncalled for."

"I'm sorry, I'm just... really on edge but you're right, I shouldn't have." Cora said genuinely.

"Now, stay here and I'll try to salvage this to the best of my ability." Archie patted his friend gently on the shoulder, already forgiven her for the slap in the face. He knew how hard she had been fighting against her addiction for years and he was surprised - and impressed - she had managed to stay sober through this ordeal.

Cora walked over to the bar area and seated herself on one of the stools, not really acknowledging the other board members who had been trying to get her fired for years and now she had given them the perfect excuse to do so. She glanced with nostalgia in her eyes at the trophy case, feeling proud in what she and her club had earned through the years until her eyes landed on an empty spot.

"Holy shit!" Cora exclaimed before getting to her feet and rushing out the door, grabbing her bike and driving to the sports grounds around the school.

Mere minutes later she arrived and all but jumped from her bike; running up to the youngsters leaning against their cars. "You, little shits, you think you are so smart... That nobody would know you were behind this!"

"Good day to you too, Ms. Mills." The leader of the gang mockingly addressed her, "What can we do for you?"

She said nothing, just glared at them and bit her tongue. She knew they were behind this but she had no proof and suddenly regretted her impulsive decision of coming here. The youngster gestured at his friends and said, "Will you look at our headmistress in all her glory, boys? I think we should offer her a drink."

"I don't need anything from you. You think you are so smart, don't you? Championship 2014."

He started laughing and of course his confused looking friends joined in, "You have no proof, so if I were you I would get on that bike of yours and forget about this, because you know how quick accidents happen, don't you? Especially when the cyclist is drunk of her ass; and hadn't seen the car coming from the right."

The threat was loud and clear, Cora understood there was nothing she could do except leave. These boys weren't in school anymore and they were certainly capable of doing what they were threatening of doing to her. They were lowlifes, coming from a long line of lowlifes and no amount of education would ever be able to change that. Cora gave him a solemn smile, "Just know that I know it was you and your gang of brigands here."

She got on her bike and rode away; missing how the rest of the gang all blamed their leader for his stupidity. They only needed the money, not some lame trophy.

~~~oOo~~~

After the disturbing dream and following thoughts Regina had been even more convinced she needed to know what had happened to her. Since no one was particularly helpful she decided to do some detective work of her own. She rode out to Mal's B&B, room 108... The last place she had been in alive. She noticed Sheriff's squad car and squinted her eyes. What was he doing here?

She quickly went inside and ran up to room 108; when she opened the door she almost died again. There in the middle of the room was Sheriff Nottingham; ripped wall paper all around him and he was removing the carpet from the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Regina yelled at him, grabbing his arms trying to pull him away from whatever he was doing.

He shrugged her off and replied, not in the slightest impressed, "I'm helping Mal getting this B&B ready. These things don't remove themselves you know."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I told you this is where I was murdered and you are destroying evidence!" Regina again tried to make him stop. "Stop this! You have to stop doing this..."

Keith turned around and hit her, hard in the face, stunning her momentarily into silence. "For the last time... **I'm** the cop here, you are a little nobody. Now get the fuck out of here or I swear I'll..."

Regina knew she was no match for him; he was able to hurt her far more than she could hurt him. She even feared he might try to kill her and since she was already dead he would get away with it as well. She really didn't know if he was capable of it but she wasn't going to find out either.

"Okay, you win... but I will get the FBI in here if it is the last thing I do, just wait and see."

She got on her bike and drove straight to Karen's grocery store, wanting to tell Kathryn - and Emma - all about Sheriff. In no time she arrived there, her anger had made her go just a little bit faster.

"Hi," Emma was the first to notice Regina and she didn't mind one bit, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello." Regina's hand waved at Emma as if she had lost all ability to control her own body parts. When she realized how stupid that must look she quickly dropped her hand and just continued to stare at Emma, momentarily forgotten what was so important. Emma chuckled lightly; she couldn't help but find Regina even more endearing than she already did. The brunette was dangerously cute.

"Regina?" Kathryn's surprised shriek brought both girls back to reality. "What happened?"

Regina and Emma broke the eye contact - reluctantly - and faced Kathryn. "Sheriff happened! He is destroying the evidence, the bastard! I told him about room 108 and he is renovating it as if he doesn't know what happened in there."

"He's doing what?!" Emma exclaimed, she had little love for Keith but this just made her hate him. How one human being could be so evil was beyond her. "We have to stop him!"

"Yes, we do! Tell us how we can help." Kathryn asked Regina.

"We have to find a way to turn the FBI's attention to room 108." Regina explained.

"But how?" Kathryn asked.

Regina had no idea; she hoped her friends would come up with something, anything. "I don't know, can't you claim you remember you saw me heading in that direction?"

"Yes, we can but how will they search room 108 it will take ages before they discover in which room you were last. They first search the entire premises, then Mal's and Leo's places and if we are lucky they will find something to expand their search to the entire B&B." Kathryn said.

"I'm afraid no one will take me serious, with my past..." Emma offered, Regina's head snapped in her direction and the look on her face could only be described as one of disappointment. So the blonde quickly added, "But I'll do whatever is necessary to get the FBI there."

A small smile formed on Regina's face, she knew she could count on Emma. Her heart was beating just a little bit faster and her stomach was feeling weird, a pleasant weird. She didn't know what it was about this young blonde but she did something to her. Something she had never felt before. Ironic, how Regina had had to die before she could experience feeling this alive.

Kathryn coughed to bring them back to the present once more, smiling and rolling her eyes at herself. These two were impossible; she wondered how long it would take for one of them to make the first move. Judging by how they were looking at each other, it wouldn't be long. "So what's the plan?"

"Let's meet at the police station when you're both done working, I'll try to get Cora and Zelena there as well. Strength in numbers and all that." Regina said and both blondes agreed with her.

~~~oOo~~~

Zelena saw Leo on her way home and couldn't help but say goodbye to him. Something about him kept drawing her to him. When she got closer she noticed he was listening to London Grammar's new album. A smile formed on her face and when she was close enough she said, "I love their music."

"So do I." Leo returned the smile and Zelena's heart skipped a beat. "Maybe we should try to schedule a London Grammar listening session..."

Leo's flirtatious tone did not go unnoticed, "I would love to." Zelena's smile grew - if possible - even wider, "Maybe I should come to your practice as well? You could teach me how to ride?"

The smile on Leo's face disappeared so fast Zelena was unsure it had even been there. The atmosphere went from flirty one minute to cold and distant confusing Zelena yet again, she sighed.

"I don't think that's a good idea, sorry I have to run." And with that Leo turned around and left a puzzled Zelena behind.

When she arrived home she immediately went to Regina's room to fit some of her racing gear, she was a little bit taller than Regina but the brunette's jersey and trousers were always a bit too big for her so Zelena judged they would fit her as well. The helmet was a crucial part of the outfit and had to fit because they were rather expensive and the redhead didn't want to waste money on one when she wasn't sure BMX racing was something she'd liked to do.

She was in the middle of fitting it when a voice behind her said, "Good, you're here."

Zelena was shaken to the core and almost dropped the helmet, looking at Regina with a deer caught in the headlights expression on her face. Regina raised an eyebrow at her wondering what she was doing in her room anyway. "What were you up to?"

The redhead shrugged as casually as she could manage and answered, "Nothing, I missed you and was ... forget it, it's stupid." She offered a smile at the brunette, who had a skeptical expression on her face. Before she could make up her mind Zelena asked, "Why were you glad I was here?"

"Sheriff! I caught him destroying the evidence in room 108. Now I'm trying to find a way to get the FBI to Mal's B&B, so far I came up empty. Do you have any suggestions?" Regina asked.

Zelena needed a moment to process everything Regina was telling her and tried to think of a way to get the FBI involved. "Can't we, I mean I, go to the police station and just ask if they considered looking there?"

"Maybe... they're not from around here, so possibly don't know of the existence of that B&B." Regina liked Zelena's idea, however simple it was. It could work, or so she hoped. "Maybe I should ask Cora to come as well, you know having another adult might be even more convincing."

Zelena agreed with Regina and together they went to Cora's. The girls explained their simple plan and Cora liked it but immediately doubted she would be believed. Her drinking problem and her overall weirdness whenever the FBI agents had seen her weren't helpful. But when she saw the pleading look on her daughter's face, she decided to give it a try. They all agreed to go around 4 because then Emma and Kathryn were off work and could join them. If the four of them all mentioned Mal's B&B the Special Agents would have no choice but consider it.

Cora, Zelena and Regina entered the police station and asked to talk to the FBI agents. They had to wait because they were checking a lead and hadn't come back yet. They had been sitting there for 15 minutes and still neither Kathryn nor Emma had shown up yet. Regina wondered what was keeping them and feared briefly they had chickened out. But there was no time to dwell on that, Sheriff Nottingham walked into the station and saw all three of them sitting there.

Cora and Zelena on either side of Regina and he immediately understood why they were there. He didn't hesitate and walked up to them.

"What do you think you're doing, Cora?" he only addressed his friend as if the two girls weren't even there. "I hope you are not thinking of making a fool out of yourself again."

"Keith, my daughter was murdered in that room... the FBI needs to know. And besides why were you destroying evidence?" Cora was adamant on helping her daughter, now she was sober she realized she had a lot to make up for and this could be a first step.

Keith started laughing obnoxiously startling all three women. "I was doing no such thing. Did she put that idea in your head?" he pointed at Regina, his finger unpleasantly close to her face. "When she told me where she was murdered I immediately checked the room but it was spotless. There was no evidence to be seen."

"Still I think it's important the FBI knows this. It is Regina's murder scene after all." Cora's statement sounded less convincing than previously and Keith noticed.

"So what? You think they are going to believe _you?_ A drunk? With the way you have been behaving lately you should count your lucky stars they didn't throw your ass in jail." Sheriff had lowered his voice to a menacing volume, he saw Cora's face change from unyielding to hesitant and he knew he didn't need much to keep her from going through with her foolish plan. "And how are you going to explain that you know your daughter was murdered there without making yourself suspicious?"

Cora's mouth opened but she had no reply so she closed it again and dropped her gaze to her lap, her head hanging in defeat. Zelena, however, wasn't giving up yet. "We will just tell them to go have a look there, since it's under construction it would be an ideal place for someone with wicked plans."

"You know Leo is already under suspicion, I thought you liked him... or do you want them to arrest him? You've seen how incompetent they are... they already like him for this." Keith smiled to himself; seeing Zelena's deflated form he knew he had her as well.

Regina had kept quiet up until now but her blood was boiling, this man really didn't give a crap about her or solving her murder. The only thing that mattered was his precious reputation and his family. She turned to her mother and said, "Mom, come on! Don't let this sorry excuse for a sheriff tell you what to do! We had a plan remember, just suggest they look there nothing more."

"Regina, stop! Keith is right; we have no business interfering in a police case." Cora stood up to leave but Regina was quicker and pulled her back before she could walk away.

"Don't be like this, mom! Don't let him scare you, he's not worth it. We have to tell them, _you_ have to tell them! Don't go, stay!" Regina tried to pull Cora back to the seat.

Cora was quickly losing her temper and hit her daughter in the head, "No, Regina! We are going home! You are not the sheriff here!"

The hit had shocked Regina into a motionless trance and she had dropped Cora's arm the moment her other hand connected with Regina's head. She saw Zelena and Cora walk out of the station and had no choice but leave as well. Sheriff was smirking at her and she regretted him being able to see her the most of all because she wanted nothing more than to cry but wouldn't give him even more satisfaction. With her head held high she walked out of the building but didn't follow Cora or Zelena, she couldn't face them... not now.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry was standing in front of Regina's picture again while Sebastian was silently staring at him. He wasn't facing the boy but he just felt the boy's stare on him. Earlier he had almost bit the boy's head off because he was asking too many questions but all Sebastian was really doing was trying to understand this situation. He, like everyone else, was missing Regina too and he wanted justice.

Henry realized he had been a terrible parent and husband because of his sadness and decided that needed to change. He faced his step-son slowly as not to startle the boy after his previous outburst, Sebastian was even more apprehensive than usual. Before his eyes landed on the boy he looked around the room trying to find a topic of conversation. He smiled when he noticed the wooden planks lying in the den.

"Weren't Regina and you building a bird house?" he asked in a soft voice.

Sebastian was surprised he was spoken to in such a loving manner but answered quickly enough, "We were building a house for the Parus Major, also known as Great Tit or Titmouse. Regina loved all living creatures and she knew a great deal about birds."

"Well, do you think we might be able to finish the birdhouse?"

Sebastian's entire face lit up like Christmas had come early this year and he jumped to his feet and almost bounced into the den. "That's a great idea!" The boy immediately started collecting the materials and when Henry joined him he started explaining all Regina had taught him about nest boxes, "The diameter of the opening is very important to attract certain species of birds. The ideal opening for the Parus major should be 3 cm (1.18 in.)."

Together parent and child spent the rest of the afternoon bonding. The activity was very therapeutic for both of them. In just that moment it felt like Regina was still with them and Henry was glad he had decided to do this as it was more helpful than all the crying and mourning had been.

~~~oOo~~~

SA's French and Lucas were going over some police records of known drug dealers in the neighborhood; they were surprised to learn that drug dealing was pretty common around Darkton. Not entirely what Sheriff Nottingham had been telling them; he was convinced that almost no one was involved in drugs neither using nor dealing. When a familiar name popped up in the records, they knew he had been playing them. His nephew had tested positive to drugs not that long ago, mysteriously no charges had been filed and someone had gone to great lengths to cover this up.

The women decided to visit the BMX terrains and when they spotted Leo they immediately started asking him some questions. Special Agent Lucas was the one to start, "Hi Leo, can we ask you a couple of questions?"

Leo only shrugged and Ruby continued, "Is there a lot of doping in BMX?"

Leo frowned; this was a question he clearly hadn't been expecting. "I guess same as in other sports."

"Are the racers tested regularly?"

"Sure and testing only increased with BMX being in the Olympics."

The agents shared a look and French asked, "What about Regina? Would she ever do drugs?"

"No, absolutely not! She fiercely disliked drugs." Leo said with as much conviction as everyone else.

"And what about you?" the questioning continued.

Leo looked from one agent to the other before answering in a much lower tone, "Yes, I did once."

"Was that what you and Regina had been fighting about?" Ruby wanted to know, this could be motive.

"No... Regina and I, we... just didn't match. We weren't good for each other." His shoulders slumped and for the first time he showed real emotion when talking about her, "The only thing we were both passionate about was BMX racing. It's funny we tried dating because we disagreed about everything else and I don't really think Regina ever loved me. Or ever was in love with me... And I wasn't that much into her either but we had our passion and we did bring out the best in each other on the tracks. That's what it was all about basically." A small smile crossed his face when memories of them giving each other pointers crossed his mind.

They gave him a moment before Ruby asked, "Is drug use common in these parts?"

"Very! I think you can literally buy drugs anywhere in this town."

The agents knew enough, "Thanks, Leo that will be all... We are going to look around for a bit." With that they ended their impromptu interrogation and set to investigate the racing tracks and surrounding area, not sure what they were really looking for but doing it anyway.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was livid when she arrived at Karen's grocery store, she ran up to the two blondes and yelled, "Where were you?! I was counting on both of you! Thank you very much!"

Emma and Kathryn both looked at the ground a little embarrassed for not being there for Regina but they had a good excuse. There had been a minor accident at the end of their shift involving hundreds of apples and both blondes had spent the better part of an hour picking them up one by one and checking the damage. They had just picked up the last apples and checked their quality when the brunette had arrived.

Emma apologized and explained what had happened to Regina, who seemed to accept it but was still pretty angry at both of them. The brunette was about to drive off but Emma wasn't ready to let her go. She feared that letting her go without properly helping her wasn't going to do them much good so she reached out to Regina and said, "Don't go, please. We'll find a solution, I promise you." She offered her a smile and when she saw it returned she added, "Give me five, okay?"

Regina nodded and watched Emma walk into the store to get cleaned up. When the blonde reemerged they decided to go for a walk in the forest trying to come up with ideas to get the agents to room 108. Emma didn't really have any concrete plans but was enjoying the walk and the company. They were mostly joking and the longer they walked the closer they had gotten to each other, they were so close in fact that occasionally their shoulders bumped together or their arms brushed each other. The electricity it elicited didn't go unnoticed by both of them.

Room 108 was briefly forgotten and they spent the time getting to know each other better. Until Emma noticed Mr. Gold and Ufo walking a little further down the road and an idea hit her... She ran up to him leaving a startled Regina behind, but it didn't take the brunette long to follow her.

"Mr. Gold! Hi!", Emma said in a way of introduction before quickly continuing, "I heard you found some kind of tool, is that true?"

Mr. Gold looked at the blonde's eager face and smiled before replying, "Yes, yes... it is true. I found it near the Archer Fest."

"Do you think it's connected to Regina's murder?" Emma went on.

He was contemplating his answer, probably wondering if the young woman was making fun of him. Emma noticed his hesitance and added, "From what I've heard you have a psychic gift, haven't you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her and said, "Look, I don't need any more people thinking I'm crazy..."

"Oh no, sir, I would never! I find it really interesting and I believe you have a gift."

This seemed to please him immensely and Emma knew she had him. "It's a gift and a nuisance at the same time." Mr. Gold admitted.

"I'm sure it is. Can you tell me if that tool gave you any vibes?" she asked while Regina was looking at her in awe.

"It did, but of course the police didn't have time to listen to me..." He looked very disappointed.

"What did you see?"

"The moment I touched it I got a cold vibe, a dark place. And blue... so much blue."

"Blue? As in... water..." Emma offered.

"Yes, yes, water... that's it!" Mr. Gold sounded like he just connected the dots. "Maybe... the Muddy River!" he got more and more excited.

"The Muddy River, that's definitely a possibility. But did you get a wet vibe in that dark place?" Emma needed to steer him away from the Muddy River and onto Mal's B&B.

He contemplated her question before answering tentatively, "I don't think so... it was dry and it's smelled funny."

"Dry... and a funny smell... As in new paint maybe?"

"Yes! That's it! Paint!" the man bounced from leg to leg, so grateful finally someone believed him and didn't think he was a fool.

"New paint... Muddy River... Is there a place that connects both?" Emma acted like she was really thinking about it putting her finger to her lips and softly tapping them.

"That hotel! Isn't it under construction?" Mr. Gold asked.

"Hotel? Oh, you mean Mal's B&B?" Emma asked, knowing full well what he was talking about and when he nodded she added, "You think she was murdered in there? Can you see more like numbers or something, a door maybe?"

Mr. Gold closed his eyes and opened his arms as if he was in some trance, he spoke with his eyes still closed, "It's hard to make out, it's dark in there... but I see something... round I think."

"Round as in circles, two or three circles?" Emma asked totally devoted to the game she was playing. The longer it went on, the more Regina appreciated what she was doing. It was a genius plan, she hoped it would work. She had a funny feeling in her stomach, she was that happy, she felt like she could kiss Emma. The thought made her blush and she was glad the blonde wasn't paying attention to her. But the thought had awakened something inside her and her eyes kept flickering back to the pale lips of Emma's mouth and she couldn't help but wonder how it would feel to kiss them.

Regina's raging hormonal thoughts almost made her lose track of the conversation but she snapped out in time of it to hear Mr. Gold exclaim, "...yes surely it's a figure 8."

Emma was very pleased with herself and convinced him to go to the police station immediately and ask for the FBI to tell them about his gift. Mr. Gold and Ufo took off and when they were at a safe distance Emma turned to Regina opening her arms and said, "Well, how did I do?"

Regina jumped into Emma's arms and fiercely hugged her, "Oh Emma, that was brilliant! No one would ever think of that but you." She pulled back a bit and realized how close their faces were and more importantly how close those lips were to her lips. She had no control over her eyes as they dropped to Emma's lips again and she bit her own. The air between them became even more electric and she became aware of how much heat was radiating of their bodies.

At the last possible moment Regina let go of Emma and cleared her throat, she looked at her feet and didn't know what to say or do. She looked back at Emma to see she had a shit eating grin on her face and an eyebrow raised but she also remained quiet. After a couple of awkward silent seconds Regina entwined their arms and started to walk them back to the edge of the forest. "Come." was all she said.

~~~oOo~~~

Mr. Gold was on a mission, he needed to inform those agents of his visions. He was so pleased the blonde had been genuine and not made fun of him. She had helped his process even! Ufo was excitingly wagging his tail, his owner's excitement was clearly rubbing off on him too. The both of them walked into the police station but Mr. Gold didn't bother with the reception desk or waiting area and went straight through to the agent's office. Both women looked up in surprise to see the old man standing there looking more like a mad man than anything. There was this crazy glint in his eyes.

Without waiting for them to ask him a question, Mr. Gold announced, "I know where Regina Mills has been murdered!" he practically squealed.

French and Lucas exchanged a look of concern before gently leading Mr. Gold to an interrogation room after they convinced him to leave Ufo behind. Special Agent Lucas pointed to one of the chairs and asked him to take a seat which he did. Both agents placed themselves on the other side of the table but French remained standing, leaning against the wall.

"So, you have some information for us." Ruby began.

"Yes, I do!" Gold replied immediately and told them without further prompting what he had discovered.

The agents did their best to suppress their laughter but they failed. "Yes, of course laugh, why don't you?!" Mr. Gold became indignant.

"Mr. Gold, forgive us but you have to understand as well that this all sounds a bit farfetched don't you think?" Belle offered.

"No, I don't think this is farfetched! I just know this is true, if you ask me you should stop wasting time and head to Mal's B&B to search room 108." Mr. Gold puffed out his chest; he was actually proud of himself for making the discovery and wasn't going to hide that no matter how hard they laughed.

"Okay, let's assume you are telling the truth... you have to admit this all sounds a bit suspicious." Ruby continued the interrogation. Both she and Belle had similar thoughts about his involvement. He didn't seem like the kind of man to be able to commit murder but appearances weren't everything as they both knew.

"Don't think so." He replied curtly. "I have a gift I'm telling you!"

Belle turned to Ruby and said to her, "Look, you have to admit this is very coincidental... Leo lives there, doesn't he and we've both had similar thoughts that he could be our perp."

Ruby admitted that she liked Leo for this but still didn't think it was worth getting a warrant for. They were basing their conclusion on the words of a crazy person and Belle agreed. She never believed in things like visions and psychic powers. Mr. Gold deduced from their whispered conversation that they didn't believe him and asked to leave.

Belle moved to his side of the table to assist him in getting up and the moment she touched his arm he got a strange vibe.

Mr. Gold stood up suddenly, grabbed both of Belle's arms in his hands and squeezed a little. The movement had startled Belle into shock and they just stood there awkwardly looking at each other. In a much firmer voice than they had ever heard the man utter he said, "I know you don't believe in psychic powers, it's all rubbish to you but when you just touched me I had another vision."

Belle swallowed audibly but remained silent and was still too astounded to move away, although her entire being was screaming her to get out of the man's grasp. Ruby was also stunned into immobility and she didn't do anything to help her colleague and friend. Mr. Gold continued in the same voice, "I saw a man, an older man, a role figure perhaps. A father I think... on your graduation day and he had never looked prouder in his life than in that moment. I also sense a kind of bereavement meaning he's no longer in your life but I just know he's still as proud of you today than he was that day."

At first no one did anything, Belle wanted to cry and yell and hit him all at the same time. He had no way of knowing this! She hadn't thought about her father on that day in a long time. Of course he was with her every day in her heart where he would live on forever but that particular memory hadn't been in her mind until now. She was brought back to the exact day and saw her father standing there as if she was experiencing it all for the first time again. She needed to get away from this man and pulled herself from his grasp. Too startled to utter a word she walked out of there in search for that warrant.

A couple of hours later both agents and some uniformed officers made their way over to Mal's B&B, warrant granted. Upon arriving Belle immediately noticed Sheriff's car and wondered how he had got there before them. No time to waste they got out of the car and walked inside, shocked to discover Sheriff helping out Mal with renovations. That fact alone wasn't shocking of course but the fact he was inside room 108, possibly destroying evidence, was. They asked him to step outside which he reluctantly did, where he saw a smug Regina leaning against the wall.

The room looked clean enough but the moment the agents were done spraying Luminol inside the bathroom it lit up like a Christmas tree. The room was sealed and a forensic team was called in to search for any remaining evidence. Regina was so pleased to see they finally discovered her murder scene her heart was hammering in her chest.

Mal walked up to where Keith was standing and whispered softly, "This can't be happening... now I'll never get it done in time. And think about all the bad press..." More concerned with herself than what had happened to the young woman that had died there.

Keith placed a gentle arm around the woman he was so fond off and kissed the top of her head promising her, "I'll make sure everything stays on schedule, don't you worry about that."

In the corner of his eye he saw Regina slipping out of the B&B unnoticed and disentangled himself from Mal to follow her. Before she reached her bike he grabbed her by the collar with a menacing glint in his eye, "Are you happy now? Don't you realize how much trouble you are causing?! If you weren't dead already I'd kill you myself!" he spat.

Regina shrugged herself loose and said unwaveringly, "At least Emma wasn't afraid of you! She's the one that made sure the agents got here and I couldn't be more proud of her."

Sheriff got into his car as fast as he could and drove home where he knew Emma would be. He was going to have a heart to heart with his foster daughter making sure she would never attempt something that foolish again.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina, still on a high which not even Sheriff had succeeded in getting her off of, returned at Kathryn's. The house was quiet and she wondered where her friend was. She noticed a slip of paper with Kathryn's handwriting on explaining she went to the movies on a date. Regina let herself fall on top of the bed with a gleeful sigh and a face-splitting grin. Finally they were getting somewhere, one step closer to discovering what had happened to her and why.

Meanwhile Kathryn was driving nowhere near the theatre... she pulled up into an abandoned car park near the local harbor and was anxiously awaiting something or someone. She looked apprehensively around her; this was not a place she wanted to be at in the dark, all alone. Ten minutes later she was fed up with waiting and really wanted to leave. She grabbed her cell and dialed a number and when someone on the other side picked up; she said without introduction, "I think we've been set up."

She noticed movement in her rearview mirror and shrieked. An unknown and unrecognizable figure wearing an over-the-top extravagant hat opened her trunk dropped a bag into it and after closing it again walked back to their car, got in and drove off. Kathryn's heart was painfully hitting her chest with every thundering beat; she was surprised she hadn't peed herself that was how scared she was. She turned the key in the ignition and drove away as well.

~~~oOo~~~

At the police station a printout was coming out of the copier with Belle and Ruby eagerly looking on. It was barely ready when Ruby pulled it free and both women's eyes quickly scanned the page. Their eyes widened when they read the unforeseen discovery: the DNA of the hair they had found was ... female.

* * *

 _ **Hope you liked it. Any guesses who the killer might be?  
**_


	7. Getting Nowhere

_**A/N: I loved your ideas about who the killer might be... Of course I'm not going to tell you yet. Enjoy the next chapter!**_

* * *

'PSYCHIC INTERVENTION?' that was the headliner of today's newspaper that Henry Mills had just been reading. The "vision" of Mr. Gold had led to his daughter's murder scene or so it seemed and he was pleased that they were finally getting somewhere. Outside he witnessed Zelena and Sebastian hanging the birdhouse onto a tree in the garden and he longed to be free as a bird as well, he was beyond fed up with being cooped up inside this house. It felt empty with too much space. The solitude and emptiness weren't helping him in the slightest and he wanted nothing more than to be around people again.

He turned to his wife and announced, "I think I'm going to end my leave of absence and go back to work tomorrow."

Karen who was absentmindedly scrolling on her phone stopped her movement and turned to her husband with a surprised expression; she hadn't been expecting that in the least and wondered if it was a good idea. "Are you sure?" she asked in a gentle tone.

"I don't know... But anything is better than staying here. I need to be around people again." Henry told her honestly.

Karen put her phone away and walked over to where her husband was, she placed her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek, "I think you should do whatever makes you feel good."

Henry smiled at her and patted one of her hands with his own before breaking the contact and walking up to Regina's room. Inside everything was still as it had been. One silent tear made its way across Henry's cheek while he contemplated whether they should leave it that way or whether they should empty it. His mother returned inside and he heard Karen tell her about him going back to work. His mother thought it was too soon and so did Karen he heard but she didn't say as much, it was just clear in the muffled way they were talking as if he was a child that wouldn't be able to handle the conversation.

That was exactly why he needed to get his life back, people in town were already acting weird around him as if they didn't know what to say or how to behave and he detested it. He was normally a very social person, not having any difficulty with conversing. His mother walked up to Regina's room and handed her son Regina's red hoodie, her favorite one. Henry took it gratefully and hugged it; it still smelled like his daughter even though it was clean.

"Thought you might like that, she wore it often." Lisa said, she paused briefly but then decided to add, "Did you hear Mal is going through with the reopening?"

"Yes, I did." Henry's expression hardened, "I can't believe the nerve... has she no compassion?"

Lisa's grey eyes became even more apologetic and she patted her son's shoulder in a comforting manner. They discussed the topic a little further and she even told him she thought going back to work was a mistake. But Henry told her he had made up his mind and that was that.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was sitting on top of some crates her legs dangling a couple feet above the ground. She was watching Kathryn work and had secretly hoped Emma would have been there, but the blonde had the day off. Not that she wasn't enjoying the company of her best friend but ever since the hug in the forest Emma had been on her mind. Especially the thought of kissing her. Before she could get lost in even more thoughts about a certain someone she decided to start a conversation.

"They arrested Mr. Gold, did you hear?" the brunette asked her friend.

Kathryn was in the middle of stacking crates filled with vegetables but stopped and turned to her friend with an expression that clearly stated everyone knew. Then she put the crate, she was still holding, where it belonged.

Regina continued, "I feel bad for him, you know. He's got nothing to do with this; in fact it's my fault he's in jail now."

Kathryn gave Regina a sympathetic look and said, "Don't beat yourself up, okay. You had no way of knowing they would arrest him and besides the man is innocent so sooner or later they will realize that and release him."

In theory it sounded plausible but Regina was still fearful that the incompetence of the police department might keep Mr. Gold in jail for a while. But there was nothing she could do about that now, she could only hope he had some kind of alibi and would be released soon.

"The DNA results came back, they were female..." Regina said.

This was news to Kathryn of course and she turned a little bit paler than she normally did. She swallowed inaudibly and tried to recover before turning back to her friend. She didn't know what to say so she remained silent, luckily Regina was lost in her thoughts and wasn't paying Kathryn any attention. The brunette continued, "I think I know my killer, the odds of this being random are too high. But who can it be? Did I have enemies I didn't know of?"

Kathryn shrugged, she genuinely didn't know of anyone having a grudge with the brunette at least not one big enough to kill her. "I don't think so. But do you really think your killer was female?"

"I honestly have no idea... I've thought about this but I'm none the wiser."

Regina and Kathryn were both lost in thoughts of their own while the blonde was still stacking crates and the brunette just sat there watching her. Thirty minutes later Regina decided to go back to the police station to follow the investigation a little; wondering what they had come up with.

Once inside the police station she learned that Mr. Gold didn't have a solid alibi on the night of her murder. He claimed he had been walking his dog around ten, afterwards he watched some television and spoke to a couple of dead people and finally went to bed. Of course apart from Ufo there weren't any other witnesses. He told them they should interrogate his dog if they didn't believe him, claiming there were ways to communicate with animals. This only resulted in them thinking he was even crazier than they had realized and he was escorted back to his cell.

Ruby and Belle walked back to their office, neither one really convinced Mr. Gold was the killer but since they didn't have anything other to go on they had no choice than to keep him in lockup. Ruby placed herself before the evidence board like she normally did while Belle leaned against a desk.

Ruby was the first to speak, "Maybe there were two perps... a male and female one."

"What makes you say that?" Belle asked intrigued.

"Well, the coroner's report didn't rule out rape and it's highly doubtful a woman would violate another woman in that way... not that it's unheard of but still what are the odds?" Ruby explained what she had been thinking.

"True. Maybe we should have Gold's DNA tested? And Leo's?" Belle wondered out loud.

"Nah, I wish that we could but you know how expensive those things are... We'll never get a warrant based on what we have so far. We need better evidence. Did we get permission to search Gold's home yet?" Ruby asked and Belle shook her head. The moment it would arrive they would hopefully find something interesting but for now all they could do was wait.

Regina got up to leave because she didn't feel like waiting with them. The talk about being violated along with being murdered had made her feel queasy and she needed fresh air anyway.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff was still at Mal's while the crime scene unit was still investigating room 108. They were in the middle of collecting several samples and taking photographs when SA's French and Lucas walked in. Sheriff was nudged by Mal standing in his embrace. He gave the women a sideways glance before turning back to Mal and telling her, "Don't you worry about a thing, I'll make sure they'll leave soon. You know you have my full support, I'll do whatever is in my power... you know you have nothing to fear, right?"

Mal nodded solemnly while Agent Lucas approached them, she didn't acknowledge Mal at first but turned to Keith an unreadable expression on her face, "Sheriff, surprised to see you here... You know you're no longer on the case, don't you?"

"Mal is family, I'm still allowed to comfort her aren't I?" he replied unwaveringly. "Besides I was only here to give my nephew his training schedule."

"You are, but I need to ask her a couple of questions and I would appreciate it if you stepped aside for a minute." Ruby told him. Keith seized her up for a moment before walking away. He passed Regina on his way out but decided to ignore her.

"Mrs. Nottingham, can I ask you a couple of question about the night of the Archer Fest?"

"Of course," Mal knew she didn't really have a choice; there had been a murder in her home it was only normal they wanted to ask her some questions.

Meanwhile SA French had walked up to Leo to ask him some questions of her own, when the young man saw her approaching him he involuntarily rolled his eyes. He didn't mean to be rude but he was tired of them asking him countless questions, he honestly didn't know what more he could tell them.

"Leo, I need to ask you again about your whereabouts on the night of the Archer Fest."

"Yeah, I figured... well, there isn't much to say really. After Regina dumped me I wasn't really in the mood to party long afterwards and after another couple of drinks I returned here. And before you ask... no I didn't see anything unusual." He replied in an even tone.

Ruby asked Mal, "Where were you on the night of the Archer Fest?"

Mal looked away briefly before replying, "I was here... I was feeling tired from all the work I have been doing the last couple of months, so I decided to watch a movie in my room."

"So around midnight you arrived back home. Was your mom in her bedroom?" was Belle's next question. Leo briefly looked away, his cheeks coloring slightly, Regina sat down next to him watching intrigued at her ex-boyfriend. After some time he finally looked at Agent French again but the embarrassment was still evident on his face.

"Yes," He answered a little too curtly. "I heard noises..." Leo looked away again.

"What kind of noises?" Belle had a feeling the boy was hiding something. Something... important.

Ruby had similar thoughts and asked Mal if she saw Leo return from the party, she said she didn't see him but definitely heard him come in and pass her room. "Was he alone?"

"Yes, he was." Mal said matter-of-factly.

"Are you sure?" Ruby pushed.

"Yes, I'm sure... A mother knows if her son comes home alone."

Belle also pushed a little and finally Leo broke his resilience and told her the noises he heard no son should ever hear coming from his mother's room and instead of saying hi like he wanted to do he made a beeline for his bedroom. Mal admitted that she had been watching a mild pornographic movie and that she suspected her son heard certain things and that was why he hadn't said anything to her.

"Are you willing to give us a sample of your DNA?" Agent Lucas asked.

Mal had a panicky look in her eyes. She shook her head, refusing to give them any of her DNA willingly and said, "I know how these things go, someone somewhere messes up and I end up being framed for this... So no not without a warrant, I know my rights."

Ruby was about to contradict what Mal claimed but realized it was to no avail, Keith would never let her offer up a sample voluntarily and she knew they wouldn't get a warrant for now. She considered bluffing but in the end she just agreed with Mal and didn't push any further for the DNA.

~~~oOo~~~

Kathryn watched her landlady who was cleaning up the kitchen before softly opening the door to another room. Her landlady let rooms to students and when she was younger she used to own a candy store as well. Nowadays she just occasionally sold those little decorative, homemade cardboard boxes to put candy inside. But it was just a hobby not really a business and since the woman was old as the hills she wasn't selling much, her designs being very unfashionable.

Kathryn entered the room as silently as she had opened the door and was met by the leader of the gang of youngsters that hung out around the sport terrains. "Hey, Goldilocks!" he greeted Kathryn a little too cheerfully. "Do have the merchandise?"

"Couldn't you choose a more convenient time to visit me?" Kathryn wasn't in the least happy about this meeting, "My boss thinks I'm delivering apples."

"Sorry, I'm a busy man." He replied but didn't sound very convincing.

"Yeah, right..." Kathryn replied, she turned around and grabbed one of the little cardboard boxes and handed it to him with a scornful look. "Here."

He opened the box quickly and pulled out a bag filled with little purple pills in the shape of ghosts. "Ah, spooky!" He said in a high voice and popped one in his mouth before offering Kathryn one.

"Are you insane? I don't want any." Kathryn rolled her eyes at him.

"Why not? We should test our stuff, shouldn't we?" he was still enjoying himself too much.

"Are you going to start acting weird now?" Kathryn asked apprehensively.

"Nope, not weird," he replied and started dancing, "But I will get in the mood to start dancing."

"Where are we going to sell them?" Kathryn asked, clearly not in the mood.

"I thought we could start at that party over at the docks this weekend." He said and started to put the bag away.

"I will take those, thank you." Kathryn said before they disappeared into the pocket of his jacket.

"50 - 50, had we agreed... Am I right, Goldilocks?"

Kathryn rolled her eyes again, "The profit yes, smartass. Where do you think they search first if anything goes wrong?"

"You're right, Goldi. Good thinking, but I will come help you package them."

He bumped his fist against Kathryn's and climbed out of the window. Kathryn smiled at herself, it still felt weird to be doing this but she needed the money and this was the quickest way to get some.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry was in Cora's office delivering her the news about coming back to work. Cora agreed with him that it would be best for him to be around people again. She smiled solemnly at her ex and patted his shoulder gently. She knew he had it worse than her because she was still able to see Regina and she desperately hoped she could tell him that. But of course she couldn't, she had tried before and was made fun of. It was better she remained silent on the matter...

Henry told her about Regina's red sweater and how much he missed his daughter and Cora shared in his grief. They consoled each other and for a moment it seemed like the spark they lost so long ago was back between them and Cora was hopeful they could reconcile but she needed to handle this discretely. She was glad he would be back in school giving them the chance to see each other on a more regular basis.

Meanwhile Karen was driving in her car with Zelena. They were sitting in a comfortable silence until Zelena asked, "Have you canceled Regina's BMX lessons yet?"

"Shit, I forgot... I have been meaning to do that since..."

Zelena didn't let her mother finish and cut her short, "Maybe you shouldn't just yet, maybe I can take over?"

"You... BMX?" Her mother sounded incredulous and it hurt Zelena.

"Why is it so strange that I want to do something Regina did?"

Karen smiled to herself, it warmed her heart that Zelena was so compassionate about this. She asked playfully, "Are you doing this to be around beautiful boys maybe?"

"Ew, no!" Zelena lied and started laughing.

"Okay, but maybe we shouldn't mention this to Henry just yet." Karen agreed. "But I will have to discuss this with him at some point..."

"Really? Okay, thanks mom." Zelena said and a smile formed on her features, she looked out of the window and the rest of the drive was silent again.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was still following the investigation and had carpooled with the agents to Mr. Gold's residence. They had a warrant to search it and were very eager to get into it. Regina was less eager she knew they wouldn't find anything useful because he wasn't her killer except she had no way of telling them so she just watched SA Lucas walk through Gold's house, which was as strange as the man himself. It was old, with lots of wood but somehow still light and there were green plants everywhere.

Ruby looked at some framed pictures, at his collection of vinyl albums and some strange objects in cabinets. She opened a drawer and pulled out a folder that immediately got her attention. She opened the folder and her eyes widened. "Belle?" she called out, "Belle?" she repeated a little louder.

Belle was already on her way and when Ruby was about to call her name for a third time she said, "Yes, Chief... on my way."

When she was close enough Ruby handed her some missing person's pamphlets neatly put inside plastic pockets. The first one was one of Regina Mills, the next one from another 26 year old girl named Marie-Margaret Blanchard and there were others. Belle accepted them and said, "Fuck!"

Regina watched them get excited of their findings but just knew they were looking in the wrong direction. She sighed, "But Mr. Gold really has nothing to do with this." Still nobody heard her of course. The agents took all of them and hurried back to the police station.

All pamphlets were displayed on a table in the interrogation room and SA French gestured to the table and said, "Almost all of them are underage and from around here and also ... Regina Mills."

Mr. Gold was leaning against the wall, refusing to be too close to the pamphlets. His lawyer however was sitting at the table, closely watching the interaction between the agent and her client. "We are all concerned about what's happening around here." he said.

"In three cases the victims were found and the perpetrators were convicted. Two cases are still open: that of Regina Mills and that of Marie-Margaret Blanchard." She stepped closer to Mr. Gold, a little too close maybe and the man was visibly uncomfortable.

He stammered, "It's becoming worse here, Miss." and quickly looked away again.

"Why exactly these two?"

"I'm just really concerned and I really want to help." He briefly glanced at Belle again before quickly dropping his gaze; she was too close why didn't she back off...

"You... help? Are you going to start about your powers again?" Belle asked mockingly.

This was pushing things too far for Mr. Gold and he addressed his lawyer, "You see, they just make fun of me!"

His lawyer agreed and asked to treat him with a little more respect. This made Belle back up a little but her gaze still held Mr. Gold's until he looked away. "Have you spoken with anyone about this case?" He didn't look back at her and she pushed a little more, "Has anyone told you you should go to the police?" His eyebrow twitched a little and she knew she was onto something. "Are there any other places you can show us where we can find more victims?"

This made Gold turn his gaze back on the agent but he didn't speak, he just shook his head. "Mr. Gold, you don't have a solid alibi for the night Regina Mills was murdered. And I will personally investigate your involvement in the other cases." Belle might still be a little unsettled by what he had said to her about her father; however she didn't feel guilty for making the man uncomfortable. She saw how he glanced in the direction of his lawyer desperate for her to help him out but nobody said anything.

~~~oOo~~~

Belle French went back to their office and slammed the door, Ruby who was already inside flinched a bit but didn't say anything. This case was very frustrating and the interrogation hadn't been very successful, Mr. Gold claimed he just wanted to help and hadn't provided them with any plausible evidence. He also hadn't given them a satisfying reason why he had kept the pamphlets. An endless stream of curse words left French's mouth; Ruby shot a glance in her friend's direction eyebrow raised.

Belle held up her hand and apologized, Ruby accepted wordlessly and turned back to the evidence board. She took the pamphlet of Marie-Margaret, the 26-year-old that disappeared in 2012. She turned back to Belle and said, "We should investigate this disappearance, I have a feeling they are somehow connected."

"Me too," Belle admitted, "however you know how incompetent the judges around this area are; they'll never grant us a warrant or the permission to reopen this case."

"I know..." Ruby sighed.

"Nevertheless... you could call in sick tomorrow and do a little investigation of your own." Belle wiggled her eyebrows, amused by her own plan. "Discretely of course."

"Of course." Ruby agreed and winked at Belle.

~~~oOo~~~

Zelena knocked on the window of Leo's trailer, making him look up from playing his videogame and he motioned with his head for her to enter. The redhead did and looked around the small place, admiration on her features. "Wow, it's beautiful in here," Leo only gave her a quick smile and she went on, "I made you this mixed tape. Nothing fancy or anything but I thought we could listen to it."

"Sure," Leo said, "make yourself at home." He gestured to the small couch and Zelena didn't hesitate to take a seat. He asked if she wanted to drink something but she declined and asked how he was doing. He informed her about yet another interrogation. Zelena turned serious then and told him she didn't think he was capable of murder. She must have said the right thing because his entire face lit up and he asked her if she still wanted to continue Regina's lessons because he would be glad to teach her everything he knew.

Zelena wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and hugged him fiercely. They didn't say much afterwards, Leo put the CD into the player and hit the play button. It wasn't romantic music which surprised him but very danceable 90s music. He grabbed her hand, pulled her to her feet and they started dancing and because the trailer was too small he raised the volume and they took their dancing outside.

~~~oOo~~~

Meanwhile Sarah was visiting Mal, the visit was a little surprising but Mal didn't mind. She asked Sarah if she wanted a glass of wine but Sarah wanted something a little stronger. She went over to the bar area and returned with a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses. Mal asked her, "How's Emma?"

"Great, she's got a job and takes her meds. She's the best daughter in the world." Sarah replied while filling both glasses to the rim.

She handed one to Mal and said, "To Emma."

"To our children." Mal said and clinked Sarah's glass.

"And to your B&B." Sarah added before she downed the glass in one gulp while Mal took a careful sip, vodka wasn't really her drink and she wanted to remain clearheaded. Sarah looked at Mal and said, "I'm so glad all of this is almost completely done."

Mal agreed and Sarah asked her, "You know what I'm even happier about?" It was a rhetorical question and she didn't wait for Mal to answer before adding, "That I'll have my husband back to myself again."

"At least you're lucky enough to still have a husband." Mal said solemnly, the animosity between both women was very strong.

~~~oOo~~~

The oven indicated that the pizza was ready, Emma took a plate opened the oven and carefully pulled the pizza out. With her plate in hand she stood up and put in on the counter carefully. Regina chose that moment to tap the window and Emma, who hadn't been expecting her, jumped back in shock. "Jeezes!"

Regina entered the kitchen and tried to apologize for scaring Emma but the blonde was still a little agitated, "Can't you call or text like a normal person?!"

"Do you want me to say sorry?" Regina asked in a very innocent tone.

"Yes, actually." Emma's voice was still harsh and Regina flinched.

"I wasn't talking about startling you; I was talking about us getting Mr. Gold arrested... He is still in prison you know."

"Yeah, I know... but they can't keep him in there forever, he didn't do anything wrong."

"Are you scared of your father?" Regina asked suddenly.

Emma's eyes widened in surprise, "No, I'm not afraid of him..." she trailed off briefly, "I'm afraid of myself."

"Why?" Regina asked in a small voice.

"Because you are dead, Regina!" Emma let out a deep sigh, "And why don't we ever talk about the Archer Fest?"

Regina's brow furrowed in confusion, "Why should we?"

"Do you really not remember or are you faking it?" Emma was still a little defensive and Regina had no idea why, she blinked a couple of times in bewilderment. "Regina, we kissed!"

"Nah." Regina chuckled; she didn't remember this, though the corners of her mouth twitched a little in amusement. "How?"

"Well, I was standing outside you walked up to me and it was clear you had too much to drink. You danced around me and kissed me." Emma recalled what had happened that night. "And then you just ran off."

Regina's eyes were sparkling brightly and she was trying hard to suppress the big grin that threatened to break out over her face, "Why?"

"I dunno." Emma replied and shrugged. "Pizza?"

The blonde didn't wait for Regina to answer; she turned around and walked into the dining room with her pizza in hand. Regina didn't need to be asked twice, of course she wanted to share a pizza with the intriguing blonde. They had apparently kissed and although Regina didn't remember this, she felt her pulse quicken and she unconsciously bit her lip. Some part of her really wanted it to happen again.

* * *

 _ **Who wants Emma to kiss Regina again as well? ;-)**_


	8. Reopenings and DNA

Ruby Lucas sat on the comfy couch in her mother's office. They were both busy women and didn't get to see each other as much as they used to. They used to be very close too but nowadays their bond had diminished a bit. Eugenia Lucas smiled at her daughter when she saw her, always pleased to get a visit from her only child. She was a very perceptive woman, call it an occupational hazard, she immediately noticed something was bothering Ruby.

"What is it?" the older woman asked gently.

"Can't a daughter just visit her mother..." Ruby replied smilingly, it wasn't a question nor was it a real statement, it was something in between.

Eugenia knew her daughter too well and returned the smile before placing herself next to her daughter, patting her shoulder. "Out with it."

"I'm working this very frustrating case; we seem to be getting nowhere. Every lead is another dead end and this entire police department is so infuriatingly unhelpful... And don't get me started about Sheriff Nottingham; he's the worst of all. Does he know you? Because he mentioned something..." Ruby trailed off, the real reason she had come to visit her mother finally revealed Eugenia understood immediately.

"I'm not allowed to discus my patients... doctor-patient privilege." Eugenia replied matter-of-factly.

Ruby was confused, "But you only treat minors..." Recognition slowly downed on her, "Of course, you're treating his daughter."

Eugenia only nodded confirming Ruby was correct, but refrained from giving any verbal information. Ruby didn't push either; she knew her mother would never speak about any of her patients. Sometimes they discussed cases without giving any personal details. Eugenia asked, "Good, what do you want to know?"

"Two young women went missing; they were both 26, disappeared on the same night, after the same festivities but with a five year difference. Why would someone wait five years before acting again?" Ruby asked.

"You know that's not my area of expertise." Eugenia sighed; though she had been expecting Ruby to ask her this.

"I know, I know. But if this is the work of a serial killer why did he ..."

"It's a misunderstanding that serial killers act because of the deed; it's almost never about the crime itself... It's more about a series of little details that are repeated in a certain way. Serial killers are usually triggered by certain things: a place, a feeling, a date. The real question is what trigger prompted this perp into killing. Find the answer to that question and you might solve this case." Eugenia informed her daughter, "But again, if you want answers to your questions you should talk to a forensic profiler, not to me."

Ruby kissed the top of Eugenia's head, thanked her and left.

She was on her way to Boston, where Marie-Margaret Blanchard's parents lived. The car drive was long but she didn't mind, it gave her time to think about everything she had learned from her mother. The ringing of her phone brought her out of her reverie, she looked at the display and saw Belle's name on it. She answered it immediately, hoping her colleague had some interesting news.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Belle asked in an amused tone, knowing full well Ruby wasn't sick at all. "The TV company provided us with a viewing log for Mrs. Nottingham, turns out she wasn't lying about the porn movie." Ruby remained quiet she felt Belle hadn't told her everything yet, "However, she stopped watching mere minutes before Regina's estimated TOD."

"Interesting... so she could have done it or at least she could have seen something important." Ruby mused, "You think she's covering for Sheriff?"

"Could be, I'm not making any assumptions without concrete proof and neither should you but it's good to consider that." Belle said before saying goodbye and asking again that Ruby was careful with the Boston investigation.

Only a couple minutes after ending the phone call SA Lucas was pulling up to the Blanchard horse ranch. She got out of her car and went in search of Marie-Margaret's parents. The special agent found both of them in the large stalls, mucking horse manure. Lucas had grown up in an area large with farms so she didn't mind the smell. She flashed her badge at them and asked permission to ask them some things about their daughter. They were happy to cooperate, hoping to finally get some answers after all those years.

"What kind of person was Marie-Margaret?" Ruby did her best to keep her voice as gentle as possible. She needed to ask this question to get to know the young woman a bit without insulting the parents.

"She was a wonderful daughter and an amazing young woman." Her father was the first to reply, it was clear he was still in awe and although it hurt him to talk about his missing daughter, the pride was evident in his voice.

Ruby gave him time to elaborate, understanding this couldn't be easy for them. After collecting himself he added, "She was always happy and liked to help people. She tutored young children, giving equestrian lessons. She loved horses and had a special bond with most of them. She understood them in a way no one else did. Even our toughest and more difficult horses did exactly what she wanted them to, she never had to break them... they just obeyed. It was magnificent to witness." Mr. Blanchard's voice broke.

"I read in the newspapers that she went missing after visiting the Archer Fest, what can you tell me about that." Agent Lucas asked.

This time it was the mother's turn to react, "Our daughter would NEVER go to such an event. She didn't like those kinds of parties, she detested drugs and alcohol, and both would be found abundantly at such a festivity. The newspapers made a mistake; we kept telling the police but nobody was listening."

"Where did she go that evening?"

"She went to a party that was much more up her alley and that of her friends. Later people claimed they saw her leave with some boys, another claimed he saw a SUV pick her up but both stories were doubtful because they stayed in the hotel of one of her friends' aunts. They always stayed there when they went out." Now it was the mother's turn to break down a little, her husband immediately held her in his strong arms. Both parents comforting each other, although no day passed in which they didn't think about their daughter, recounting the events that led to her disappearance after all that time hurt beyond words.

Ruby decided to check out this hotel, she asked for directions, thanked them for their cooperation and went back to her car.

~~~oOo~~~

Emma and Regina were strolling leisurely on the archery grounds, talking about what had happened. It was rather cold; Emma pulled her hoodie over her head to fence of the cold wind which didn't seem to bother Regina. It was unclear whether this was due to her excitement or to the fact that she was dead. They hadn't said much on their way here.

Regina was the first to break the silence, "So, you were standing outside and I came from inside?" she gestured to one of the doors.

"Yeah, you screamed something at your boyfriend and it was clear you were more than a little drunk." Emma chuckled.

"What were you doing outside... by yourself?" Regina asked, wondering why the blonde had been acting strange that evening. Regina really wanted to believe the blonde about them kissing but she was still doubtful, she was sure that a kiss from the blonde would be something she would definitely remember, or at least want to remember.

"You know... just chilling a bit." Emma shrugged and her tone was neutral.

Regina's eyes narrowed, the blonde was definitely hiding something. "Why would anyone want to chill on their own?"

"Because... okay?" Emma got defensive again, she noticed the hurt look that crossed Regina's face and sighed, "Look, I like to people watch at parties more than the parties themselves. They're loud and crowded and I rather just watch other people have a good time..."

Regina smiled; she could totally envision the blonde doing that. She knew Emma was a bit of a loner thus she believed her when she said that people watching was more fun than actually participating in the partying. "What did we talk about then?"

"Not much," Emma chuckled again, "just about Leo being your ex and you wanted to dance, so we did." Emma recognized the doubtful glance in Regina's eyes and grabbed her hand gently and twirled her around a couple of times. "Like that." Both women laughed.

Regina was a little dizzy from being twirled around and ended up in the blonde's personal space. They were standing close, very close, maybe even too close. The brunette swallowed and couldn't keep her eyes from the pale lips that were just within reach of her own. She couldn't imagine she had lost control like that, she wasn't known to lose her cool, not ever. "I don't dance." The words were uttered in a way that was supposed to be convincing but her tone was anything but.

"You did that night." Emma said and unconsciously licked her lips. "Then you grabbed my face and kissed me." They locked eyes briefly, and then both sets of eyes landed on the other's lips again before locking once more. Regina's breathing felt constricted and her heart was hammering inside her chest, this wasn't the first time this had happened in the blonde's presence but this time she was sure the blonde could feel it.

Her eyelids fluttered and she wetted her lips, leaning in just a little bit more. This was really happening, she was about to kiss the blonde and this time she would remember it. At the last possible moment a thought crossed her mind and she asked, "With tongue?"

Emma rolled her eyes and answered, "Yes, with tongue." They were still close enough to feel each other's breath, Regina's cheeks turned a nice shade of red and she lowered her eyes in embarrassment.

The blonde noticed this and suddenly remembered she was on her way to work and was already a little late. "I'm sorry but I have to go."

As if the spell had lifted they separated a little but Regina wanted to know more. "What happened after the kiss?"

Emma shrugged, "Nothing, you started to run away. I thought this was some kind of game and I followed you at first but you kept running away, so I figured it wasn't a game at all."

"You think I ran in the direction of the road?" Regina wondered out loud.

"I really don't know... It was dark and I didn't follow you." Emma admitted and felt sorry she hadn't because maybe the brunette wouldn't have ended up being killed.

Emma repeated that she needed to go and turned around to walk to her workplace. Regina didn't immediately follow her, other thoughts were running through her brain. "Could it be that I encountered all people that are able to see me on the night of the Archer Fest?"

Emma stopped in her tracks and turned towards the brunette, her legs seemed to be functioning again and Regina closed the distance between them so she wouldn't hold up the blonde any longer. They both started walking towards Emma's workplace, "What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"You, Kathryn, Zelena, my mom..." Regina summed up every person that was able to see her but then she was reminded that there was one other person that was able to see her and she couldn't think of a reason why she would have encountered him there. "But not your father..."

Emma had no answers, she shrugged again and said, "I'm sorry but I really need to go now, I'm late as it is." Regina nodded and let Emma leave.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff Nottingham was sitting behind his desk, doing some tedious paperwork. Ever since he had been pulled of the Regina Mills case he had been doing nothing exciting whatsoever. Darkton was a quiet town nothing ever happened apart from a bar fight or some local youngsters wreaking havoc in town. Not coming close to the buzz that came from a homicide or missing person's case. He saw Officer Jones walk into the police station and it brought a smile to his face, because he knew how easily he could manipulate the young cop.

He didn't even have to say or do anything; Killian was obviously happy to see him and immediately walked over to his desk. Behind Killian other officers were releasing Mr. Gold and Sheriff indicated with a nod of his head that Killian should look behind him which he did.

"Ah yes, they're releasing Mr. Gold. Turns out he had a solid alibi after all." Officer Jones said enthusiastically as if he were privy to some big secret.

"Did he now?" Keith said.

"Yes, a neighbor saw him walk his dog around the time of death and confirmed he never left his house after that." Killian informed his boss proudly.

"Why did they wait till now to come forward?" Sheriff asked, confusion clouding his features.

"The lady didn't want to come forward at all, it seems. That dog of his barks at all hours of the night and she was happy to be rid of that for a couple of days and have a good night's rest. She wouldn't have minded waiting a little longer even. But Mr. Gold's lawyer convinced her to come forward, going as far as to threaten the lass with obstruction of justice if she didn't inform us." Killian beamed, he was enjoying this way too much, it almost never happened that he had information his boss didn't.

Sheriff decided that now was as good a time as any to probe a little more, he gave Killian a proud look and asked, "Do we have more information about the crime scene?"

Officer Jones, however, wasn't as gullible as Sheriff thought he was and he said indignantly, "I have strict orders NOT to discuss sensitive material about this case with you, Sheriff."

"Jonesie, it's me. I thought we were friends..." Keith pretended to be hurt by Killian's refusal to give him more information. He tried a different tactic, he knew that if he insulted Killian he would be even more offended and therefore tried to toy with his emotions a little. "After everything we've been through. You trust these strangers more than you trust me, your oldest friend?"

Killian ashamedly looked away; he didn't want to hurt his friend and he wasn't entirely convinced that Sheriff was untrustworthy either. He quickly glanced around him and opened his mouth but before a word got out three other cops created a distraction. One of them had farted and apparently he had had chili for lunch which made the fart stink really bad and Jones couldn't help but laugh hard at the scene unfolding. Tears were streaming down his face and he walked up to the farting cop to high five him, his shame about hurting Sheriff completely forgotten.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry Mills, or Mr. Mills as he was called today, was hosting a discussion about abortion in his classroom. It felt good to be back he proudly thought to himself while he watched some of his more vocal students get into an argument in which they tried to convince each other whether or not abortion is murder. Some thought it was, others were uncertain but believed that in some cases abortion is the better choice and some were very convinced that abortion should always be an option when the woman didn't want to be pregnant.

The arguments flew to and fro and the discussion got more heated with every passing second but Henry wasn't paying attention anymore. In the corner of his eye he had spotted something red and when he turned his head in this red object's direction the voices from his students faded away entirely. His vision was blurry but he was certain it was Regina in her red hoodie that passed his classroom window. Could this be? Was Regina really there?

Henry was unable to move, he just stood there with blinking eyes in some sort of daze until one of his students demanded his attention. But Henry couldn't handle this, tears sprang to his eyes and he left his classroom in a hurry. He ran into the hallway and almost collided with Cora, who had been on her way to his classroom to check up on him. Henry was in an erratic state and Cora had some difficulty calming him down.

When he was calm enough to be comprehensible he explained he had seen Regina in her red hoodie. Cora pulled him in a hug because of course she realized it had been a hallucination if Henry had really seen Regina Cora would have too and that wasn't the case. She knew their daughter wasn't there. She whispered some sweet nothings to him and stroked his back, Henry settled in the hug enjoying the familiar feel of his ex-wife's body.

"Maybe coming back so soon was a mistake." His voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Maybe it was." Cora agreed but didn't let go of him just yet, holding her ex-husband like this made her realize how much she had missed him. "We will find who's responsible for our loss, they will be punished I assure you."

Henry only nodded and they remained standing there in each other's embrace.

~~~oOo~~~

Leo and Mal had been very busy today; they had to make sure everything was there for the big opening of Mal's B&B. She might get some backlash because of her timing now the police found out Room 108 was Regina's murder scene but she couldn't wait any longer, she had worked too hard to postpone this and the bills had been piling up as well that's why she needed to have some form of income. On the other hand Mal realized that the timing was just right, a lot of people would want to stay at the B&B where a murder had happened. Though that wasn't why she was doing this.

Leo spotted his mother talking to some people and he walked up to her and whispered discretely, "People ask to see room 108."

"Not a chance." Mal answered curtly before turning her attention back to the people she had been talking to. Giving Leo no choice but to return to his spot near the entrance where he handed people a glass of champagne or orange juice.

Emma walked in and nodded in greeting to Leo, he offered her a glass but she declined. "I didn't come here for a drink."

"Why did you come then?" Leo asked already annoyed with his niece.

"Dear nephew, wouldn't you want to know..." Emma said with equal annoyance in her voice. Jealousy wasn't the only reason; Emma had always known Keith favored Leo over her but that wasn't what was bothering Emma. Some part of her was jealous because Leo had dated Regina and somehow messed it up. And she couldn't help but want to make sure he didn't have anything to do with Regina's death. "How are you? Don't worry about me I'm "healthy"."

Leo just kept filling more glasses and kind of ignored Emma; he only shrugged to acknowledge he was still listening. Emma decided to try a different tactic, "Quite a lot happened here, didn't it? Must have been intriguing I figure."

Leo turned around and looked at her, "What? You want to see 108 as well?"

"Nah, not really my thing... I just came for the beautiful girls, you know me don't you?" Emma said smirking. "That reminds me... Were you and this Regina chick together long?"

"Not really." Leo tried to remain unfazed but his jaw locked and Emma had noticed.

The blonde pushed a little harder, "That's a shame really because if you ask me Regina was kinda hot, wasn't she?"

This got her a reaction, Leo gazed angrily at her and tried to walk away but she kept blocking his path, he tried to walk around her but she put herself squarely in the doorway making sure he had nowhere to go without making a scene. "What? Is it not right to talk about that? Is it somehow inappropriate maybe?"

Leo just scoffed and tried again but the blonde wasn't budging. "Look, I understand all of this is very troubling for you and your mom... but at least you still have _my_ _father_ as well?"

Leo pushed past Emma but didn't say a word, with one last look of disdain he made his way into the crowd to offer thirsty people a drink and Emma just watched him go. Whatever she had been hoping for hadn't happened and she felt bad about it.

~~~oOo~~~

SA Lucas parked her car in front of the hotel Marie Margaret mostly stayed at when she had been partying with friends. She showed her badge to the owner and asked if it was alright if she asked some questions about the Blanchard girl. The owner had no problem with that and immediately proceeded to tell Agent Lucas that the girls mostly stayed in room 108 and she remembered them staying in that exact room the night of her disappearance.

Room 108, now that was interesting... Ruby asked if she could maybe see room 108... She didn't have a warrant, she didn't even have permission to be there so if the lady told her no that would be that. But Mrs. West saw no harm in showing the room to the Special Agent even though she doubted anything useful would be found, it had been years since Ms. Blanchard had disappeared.

As Mrs. West opened the door for her and before walking in Ruby asked, "You're sure they stayed in this room?"

"Yes, very sure." Mrs. West confirmed and Ruby walked in.

It was an ordinary room like so many other hotel rooms. It was small but cozy; there was a large bed in the middle, two nightstands and a large dresser. Ruby looked around the room not sure what she was expecting; she wanted to get some vibe something that could point her in the right direction. Finding evidence after all those years would be ridiculous of course. But maybe a clue that she was onto something...

She sat down on the bed and immediately the voices of her colleagues and mother filled her head, "It's more about a series of little details that are repeated in a certain way", "It's been 5 years, Ruby.", "... a place, a feeling, a date..." When she suddenly noticed a part of the wall looked a lot newer than the rest of the room, she got up and knocked on it. It was hollow as she had suspected, she turned her attention to Mrs. West and asked what had been behind it.

The owner told her there used to be a chimney but it had been closed for at least 5 or 6 years. Ruby inspected the wall a little closer suddenly filled with something she couldn't quite put her finger on but she was sure she would discover something important. She pulled out a Swiss army knife to try and pry the wall open. Upon seeing the knife Mrs. West told her in no uncertain terms that she didn't grant her permission to use that because the room would be used by guest in a couple of hours but Ruby didn't stop. As if cursed she feverishly started to get the fake wall to open. Mrs. West left to call her son.

After a couple of seconds she managed to tear down the fake wall and discovered... nothing. Mrs. West came back and saw the damage the agent had done and wasn't at all happy and she informed her that her son who was on his way there wouldn't be happy either. Ruby tried to apologize but had no explanation to offer the woman.

She drove back to the police station and called Belle from the car, she got her voicemail so she decided to leave a message, "Belle, if you hear this call me back please. I think I've done something very stupid... and all I managed to get was a vague tip about a SUV that might have something to do with it."

~~~oOo~~~

Special Agent French made her way inside Mal's B&B, she was offered a drink but she politely declined. She walked further into the B&B and when Mal spotted her, she immediately asked Keith to get rid of her. The evening had gone uneventful and she was glad, she didn't want the FBI to ruin that for her. Keith got up and walked up to the agent.

Before he was able to say anything however Belle said "Don't, Sheriff. I have a warrant for a DNA sample and I'm not leaving without it. Besides, this is exactly the reason you were pulled from the case."

When DA Spencer had told her she was granted the warrant Belle had wasted no time, the moment it arrived at the precinct she grabbed it and made her way over to the B&B. The coincidence between ending the movie and Regina's TOD had been convincing enough to grant the warrant. Sheriff looked dejectedly at Belle before returning to his sister's side, not saying a single word.

Agent French walked up to Mal showed her the warrant and collected the DNA sample, she inclined her head in the direction of a back room and everything went rather smoothly. Without further ado the agent made her way back to the police station.

Regina who of course didn't want to miss a moment of the opening had seen how Sheriff had tried to butt in and had tried - and failed - to get the agent to back off. She was resting against the doorpost of the backroom, gloating a little, this annoyed Keith but he ignored her. Before he had the chance to follow Mal into the area with the reception guests, Regina asked "Where were you the night of the Archer Fest?"

"Ah, I was starting to miss you already..." Sheriff said sarcastically and sighed before turning around and focusing his attention on her.

Regina ignored his sarcasm and continued, "I think that I saw all five of you that night."

Sheriff scoffed and said he never saw her. Regina didn't know whether to believe him but she had to admit he sounded pretty certain and if that was the case then her little theory was just torpedoed.

Henry chose that moment to walk in, without talking to or acknowledging anyone he went straight up the stairs and kept walking until he stood in front of room 108. He stared at the door which was still sealed by police tape and started to cry. Regina witnessed this and walked up to her father and tried to comfort him by caressing his hand and laying her head on his shoulder. "I'll find him, daddy, I promise you."

As quickly as he had entered, Henry turned around and left. When he was downstairs again Mal and a few of the guests spotted him. Mal and Henry stared at each other intensely before Henry left the building. The guests were now all staring intensely at Mal and some of them started to whisper to each other. Mal couldn't handle this and left the room. Keith had seen the change in Mal and followed her.

"I did something wrong." she sighed and Keith tried to reassure her that no one would blame her.

"And Leo? What will happen to Leo if I go to prison?" Mal asked.

"Wha-what are you talking about?" Keith asked, his voice trembling.

"Will you take care of Leo?" Mal asked, ignoring Keith's question.

Keith grew more and more worried and confused, he opened and closed his mouth several times, his heart racing. He assured her that he would always take care of Leo if something was to happen to her, but he also said that he would never let anything happen to her because she was family and that was what family did.

"I thought you would, but I needed to hear it one final time..." Mal began, "I didn't kill her, I swear. Shortly after Leo got home I heard a noise. My first thought was that it was you... But I got no response. Who had it been? Who? Leo, no... that couldn't be."

Mal wasn't making much sense to Keith; she was crying and breathing rather erratically and he thought she was having some anxiety attack. He wanted to help her lie down for a bit but she wasn't having it.

Mal steadied her breathing and continued, "I went to investigate where the noise came from and who had caused it. I looked in all the rooms..." Her voice trailed off and she swallowed before continuing, "She was already there, I didn't murder her... in the bathtub covered in blood. There was so much blood, her hair was sticky with it and she was dirty... I cleaned her. I took her to the Muddy River and dumped her there." Tears were streaming down Mal's face, she felt really ashamed with herself.

"What?" Keith asked.

"I couldn't leave her here... I did it for you, for Leo, for us. I wanted them to find her." Mal admitted.

Regina who had been listening couldn't take it anymore and walked away angrily. It made her sick to hear that not only had Mal washed away valuable evidence, she had just dumped her in a river. Sheriff Nottingham saw Regina cross the room but Mal needed him so he wouldn't leave her side. He was at a loss for words, how would he help her with something as big as this? Nevertheless, he vowed to himself that he would do whatever was in his power to rectify the situation.

~~~oOo~~~

Hours later Ruby was looking at her computer screen, she had received the feed of the traffic cams surrounding the area of Mal's B&B and hoped she would catch a glimpse of a SUV. Belle arrived at the police station which made Ruby look up for a second. Belle informed her that she had personally delivered the DNA sample of Mal Nottingham at the lab. She didn't trust anyone else with the sensitive material and Ruby agreed that that had been the best plan indeed; she also informed Belle that the hotel owners had pressed charges.

"So you destroyed a hotel room for nothing?" Belle stated solemnly.

"Apart from the vague tip about the SUV..." Ruby replied.

"Did you receive the feed from the traffic cams already?" Belle asked, deciding to change the subject.

"I'm looking at them as we speak." Ruby said. "From all the roads between the archery and Mal's B&B."

Belle got up and walked to where Ruby was sitting, she placed one hand on the desk and one at the back of Ruby's chair and peered over her shoulder at the screen. "And?"

"Still no SUV." Ruby sighed.

Belle glanced at her colleague and noticed the bags under eyes and her pale complexion, a frown formed on her head. "How long have you been at it?"

Ruby didn't answer her but glanced sideways directly into Belle's eyes with the same solemn expression she had been wearing since before Belle walked in. The smaller woman tried not to roll her eyes at her friend and went back to her own desk. Ruby focused back on the screen in front of her on which car after car drove by but still no SUV. And then suddenly she first noticed a motorcycle and then a very expensive looking old-timer.

Ruby sat up a little straighter and went back to the moment the car passed by on the screen and paused it. The image was grainy but the person in the passenger's seat seemed to be Regina Mills. She looked at the time and noticed this was before the time of the murder. "Wait a moment. Come take a look."

Lucas pointed at the screen and said, "That girl looks like..."

"Regina Mills." Belle completed the sentence for her. They glanced at each other confusedly; if both had the same thought then surely they had found something. Something important...


	9. Full Moon

_**Hi guys, I know it's been a while but I finally found the time (and inspiration) to start writing again. To award your patience this chapter is nice long one ;) Enjoy!**_

* * *

Regina was driving her bike in the dark, she didn't really know where she was going but she had to keep riding to clear her head. She needed to get someone to help her. The FBI should be involved. She was still reeling by the discovery she had made. Learning that Mal had discovered her body but was more worried about what that would mean for her B&B than calling it in was difficult. She was so lost in thought she hadn't noticed the police car that was driving towards her. Right before the impact Regina pulled on her steering wheel and avoided the collision but the abrupt movement made her lose her balance and she crashed hard to the ground.

She was too dazed to get up before the figure from the car reached her and a very angry person roughly pulled her up by the collar. Bringing his face close to hers she noticed it was a very angry sheriff Nottingham. "You stupid bitch! You listen to me... There's nothing to tell alright, you heard nothing!"

Regina might be a little shocked and also in pain but she wasn't going to let him threaten her. "I heard enough! I will get someone to help me tell this to the FBI, she will NOT get away with this." Her voice raised the more words left her mouth, she was beyond livid.

Sheriff quickly pulled his gun from its holster and put the barrel against the side of her head, he growled "Do I have to shoot you? Because I will... You're already dead so nothing is stopping me! And I know I can hurt you, you want to find out if I can kill you again?"

Regina audibly swallowed; she didn't understand how any of this was working. Even though she was most definitely dead she still felt pain and she was sure that if he were to shoot her she would die all over again and if she didn't she would end up with a killer headache or worse... lose her wits.

He lowered his gun and loosened the grip on her collar and continued in an even voice, "Look, you don't know half of it. I understand that you're angry; I get that but if you keep that smart mouth of yours shut I'll give you a vital piece of information. What do you say about that?"

Regina contemplated this for a moment before nodding slightly; her curiosity got the better of her. Sheriff sure seemed to know what he was talking about yet Regina didn't have a clue. "I'll think about it."

"You ever wondered how the drugs got into your system?" Sheriff paused and watched Regina's expression closely, when he noticed her eyes widening he knew she would take the deal. "If you stay quiet I'll give you a name when the next full moon hits."

Regina accepted the deal as he had expected but he added for good measure, "If you break our deal I'll hunt you down and shut you up for good and don't think you'll ever find out who was responsible."

"I said we had a deal, so I won't break it. You just see you don't either." With that Regina turned around and walked back to her bike. Luckily for her it wasn't damaged too much so she got on it and drove away.

Moments later she was in Kathryn's bedroom getting her wound tended by her best friend. The lotion Kathryn was using stung a lot and Regina couldn't help but hiss when the wet cotton ball came into contact with her cuts and scrapes. True to her word Regina hadn't mentioned what had really happened to her friend or at least not all of it.

Kathryn gave her friend some directions and made her turn around so she could tend to a rather nasty cut on one of Regina's shoulder blades. During the cleaning Regina hissed again. "Maybe you shouldn't drive your bike when you have so much on your mind. Clearly you can get hurt."

The blonde brought the cotton ball down again and Regina said through clenched teeth, "Clearly! Well I was thinking about how the drugs got into my system because we both know I would never take them willingly. Certainly not with the championship going on."

At the mention of the word drugs Kathryn's hand faltered but fortunately for her Regina couldn't see this and as she was concentrating hard on biting the pain she was entirely oblivious to the changes in her friend. Kathryn waited a bit until she was sure she could control her voice enough to answer steadily, "I don't know the first thing about drugs or where to get them. Sorry I can't be more helpful."

Regina reassured her friend that she wasn't holding it against her, that she really appreciated everything she had done for her already.

~~~oOo~~~

DA Albert Spencer stepped into agents Lucas and French's little office, steam coming from his ears. He stomped his way to Ruby's desk and slammed an article clipping hard on it making Ruby jolt. She quickly glanced to the article's title and knew she was in trouble. It read: "FBI screw up or fabricating evidence?" and directly below it was a photograph of the wrecked hotel room wall. Her eyes scanned the rest of the article and sure enough her name was included in it. Her shoulders immediately slummed; this surely was the end of her first lead case.

"What the ..., Lucas!" he yelled at her. "What were you thinking? If you were thinking in the first place!" he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose hard as if he was trying to pinch away the ragging headache he was feeling. "Never was I met with more incompetence... you do realize you have jeopardized this entire case, don't you? The DNA evidence is being held back because of this as well; do you have nothing to say for yourself?"

Agent Lucas looked up at him and was starting to apologize when she suddenly realized that yes she did screw up but at least she was trying to find clues. Since they had started working this case they had met wall after wall and were met with more incompetence that they had ever had to deal with. The DA himself wasn't without blame either and she wasn't going to let him feel superior because he had stumbled upon one mistake she had made.

She cleared her throat and calmly answered, "As a matter of fact I do have something to say." She stood up and walked over to the evidence board, DA Spencer followed her closely. He had expected some form of apology and was still hopeful it would come. The brunette pulled a couple of stills from the traffic cams from the board and handed it to him.

"Here, see for yourself." She said.

A frown formed on his face because he still wasn't really following what was going on, he wordlessly accepted and looked at them. The frown was quickly replaced by a much happier expression. "Is this..." but he didn't have to finish the question, he knew what he was looking at."So we finally have what looks like a solid lead?"

Both agents nodded and he told them to keep working this new angle and left without another word. Belle gave Ruby a sympathetic look and patted her shoulder gently, "That could have gone a lot worse." She said before winking and continuing the work she was doing.

~~~oOo~~~

Sarah and Keith were sitting at the breakfast table eating in silence. Keith was reading his morning newspaper and drinking his coffee. Suddenly he closed it and stood up, Sarah thought he was going to get a refill but noticed he was clearing his plate and getting ready to leave. He was still suspended from the case which he had forgotten to mention to Sarah. They both had the day off so Sarah was a little confused at why he was wearing his uniform which she only just noted.

"You're leaving?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes, I am... I was thinking of helping out the agents because we're still not any further in breaking the case." Keith said matter-of-factly with his back still turned to her.

Sarah slammed her cup to the table rather hard which made him look at her immediately. "Are you fucking serious?" she asked him.

"What's wrong now?" Keith was still oblivious to what the problem was.

"You honestly don't know?! Keith, we haven't spend one day together the entire month! I hardly see you between your work at the precinct and you helping out Mal and now you want to spend the only day off in a long time at work again?" Sarah was really pissed that he again chose his job over her. And when he wasn't at work, he chose Mal over her.

Keith got closer to her and placed a gentle kiss on top of her head, "I'm sorry, honey, I realize I have been a lousy husband lately but I promise you I'll make it up to you after this case. Okay?"

Sarah rolled her eyes and got up almost head-butting him and stormed out. Keith sighed and left the house.

A couple of minutes later he found himself back at the police station and was happy to see Officer Jones alone at his desk. He quickly walked up to him and casually asked him "Jonesie, any news for me?"

"Sheriff!" Jones looked as if Christmas had come early. He was so happy that his boss was back. In fact he was so pleased that he forgot that Sheriff was suspended from the investigation. "Have I ever! Agent Lucas has made a mess of things by destroying a hotel room without a warrant, which has put her under investigation so the processing of the DNA sample is being delayed. Oh and they found footage of Regina on the night of her murder!"

"Did they now?" Sheriff asked a little worried but Jones was oblivious to this as well.

Jones excitedly searched his desk until he found the still of the old-timer with Regina Mills in it. "Look at this beauty. It's a neo-classic luxury vehicle. A Panther De Ville I think and the garage I contacted confirmed it."

Sheriff took a closer look at the photograph and frowned, "Hmm..."

"What do you mean 'hmm'?" Jones asked.

"Are you sure it's a Panther De Ville? I think it's a 1985 Zimmer Gold Spirit, V8 engine, automatic transmission, Nardi tilt steering wheel, the hood ornament is a bird not a panther..."

Jones took the photo back from Sheriff and examined it closer, they talked car some more but in the end Sheriff had successfully convinced Jones that he was right. Pleased with himself he quickly left before anyone else noticed him.

~~~oOo~~~

The door of the police station opened and a haphazard looking Henry and a confused looking Regina walked in. Cora was already waiting in one of the empty chairs but when she saw them she stood up and walked towards them. "Do you know why we're here?" she asked Regina.

"No, I was going to ask you the same..." Regina was as clueless as her parents. She was visiting Zelena, who didn't really have time for her because she was too busy looking at a photo of Leo on her phone when her dad received a call from the police asking him to come in. She had tried to ask him what was going on but of course he hadn't noticed her so she had decided to accompany him to the police station.

All three of them returned to the empty chairs and sat in an awkward silence: Regina because she was only able to talk to one of her parents, Cora because she was at a loss for words and Henry was too preoccupied with the reason for them being there. Regina had chosen the chair in-between her parents, which was clear to Cora but Henry had frowned a little when Cora didn't choose the chair next to him.

After a couple of more awkward minutes Henry was becoming agitated and he sighed loudly, "Didn't they say we had to be here at eleven?" He looked around trying to spot the SA's but there was no one around.

"Yes, they did." Cora replied calmly.

The weird tension returned and Cora, in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood, said "Remember when we went camping."

Henry smiled, "Yeah."

"Regina was three years old."

"Four." Regina corrected her mother.

"Four." Cora repeated.

"On that raft..." Henry smiled again, memories of that vacation coming back to him. "Our little girl..."

Tears formed in his eyes and he solemnly added, "I still can't... you know. Sometimes it feels like she's still here."

"She is." Cora assured her ex-husband and Regina smiled at her mother.

Agent Lucas chose that moment to ask them to follow her. Regina was the first one on her feet and the three of them made it to an interrogation room where a laptop on a table was waiting for them. Agent Lucas played the footage and asked them if the girl in the car could be Regina. Henry immediately confirmed that it was indeed his daughter.

When Agent Lucas asked them if they recognized the vehicle or the driver Cora turned to Regina who only shrugged. She didn't even remember this. Both parents were clueless. Agent Lucas asked if she could use this footage for an APB.

Cora said, "If you think it would be helpful..."

Henry said, "How could she do this? She was supposed to go straight home." He sounded very disappointed.

Agent Lucas left to give them some space but Henry stood abruptly and demanded to be taken home. Cora stood as well and turned to Regina, "How could you do this? First the drugs, now this... getting in a vehicle with someone you don't know?!"

"I'm sorry, okay. I don't know why I did this... I just don't remember any of it..." Regina told her mother honestly.

Cora left Regina and followed Henry outside; he was already in his car waiting in the passenger seat. When Cora got in, Henry started to have doubts mostly because he was afraid that Cora was already intoxicated. He hadn't considered this when he got upset in the interrogation room. He voiced his doubts and the conversation quickly turned into a row. Cora blamed Henry for ending their marriage but he said it was her fault for never being there and when Cora didn't even remember Henry's new wife's name or even that he had remarried he was done with her. He angrily got out of his car, pulled Cora's bike from the trunk and after Cora got out of the car, he got in and drove away.

~~~oOo~~~

Later that day Cora was at home drinking vodka from a coffee mug, while making a scrapbook with pictures of Regina. The kitchen table was covered in old and new pictures of her daughter. Her phone started to ring but she didn't bother to pick it up, whoever it was could leave a message on her machine.

She was listening to the recording and cursed, it was Archie reminding her that she had to open the canteen of the BMX club. She really wasn't in the mood but with the many screw-ups she had done lately she had no choice. She got onto her bike and left.

All the way to the club she had been cursing and she was still on it when she opened the door of the cafeteria. The first thing she did was getting herself another drink, she walked towards the tracks and noticed Leo was already practicing, which was not surprising. Then Cora saw another figure on the tracks, she blinked a couple of times when she recognized Regina's racing gear and bike.

For a moment she thought it was really Regina until she saw Leo interact with the girl on the other bike and Cora realized it couldn't be Regina. _Zelena_ she thought and ran onto the tracks angrily. She jumped in front of the BMX's and asked what they were doing.

"Zelena, have you no shame?! Do you think Regina would want this... you using her gear?!" Cora shouted at the redhead.

Zelena scoffed, "If you want to know maybe you should ask her." The girl replied indignantly then she added, "And maybe you should drink a little less!"

"No need to be rude, young lady." Cora said but Leo and Zelena turned around and drove away.

She was so enraged by the audacity of Karen's daughter that she drove straight to Henry's house wanting nothing more than to give Karen a piece of her mind! In no time she arrived at her destination, not even coming to a full stop she jumped from her bike letting it fall to the ground and she shouted, "Karen, why is your daughter using my daughter's racing gear! Have you no shame, woman?!"

Karen heard the ruckus and stepped outside. When Cora saw her the rage intensified and she ran - or rather stumbled - towards Karen and pushed her hard trying to get a reaction out of the other woman. In her drunken state she wasn't really pushing her hard and Karen easily deflected Cora's attempts to start a fight.

"Look, I don't really see what the problem is. The lessons were paid for and the gear fits Zelena perfectly. It's not that Regina has any use of it now, does she?" Karen's words were harsh and Cora saw red.

A hard slap landed sharply on Karen's cheek, Henry chose that moment to show up and quickly got in between the two women. He pushed Cora back and accused her of being drunk and not knowing what she was doing and asked her to go home and leave them alone. Cora tried to explain why she was there but Henry wasn't having any of it, he was sick and tired of his drunken ex-wife.

"But she gave Regina's gear to Zelena. Regina's gear, Henry!" Cora tried one last time and her voice broke.

Henry turned towards Karen with a questioning look and Karen confirmed that it was true. The news didn't sit well with Henry and he got mad at Karen.

"She can't make decisions about our daughter, _our_ daughter, Henry!" Cora shouted from behind him.

"Your daughter, Cora, really? You were never there, at least I was!" Karen wasn't backing down.

Cora replied with another slap in Karen's face, "You! You stole my daughter from me! You weren't happy with the children you already had, no you had to have everything! My husband _AND MY_ daughter!" Cora tried to slap her again but this time Karen fought back.

Henry tried to intervene but it wasn't easy, both women were really invested in hurting each other. But it was an unfair fight; Cora was too inebriated and quickly lost her balance. Karen gave her a hard shove and Cora landed on her backside. Henry stepped in front of Karen, successfully holding her back and pleaded with Cora again to leave them alone. Embarrassed Cora picked herself up from the ground, got onto her bike and drove back to the club.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff walked up to the lab where DNA samples were being processed, he was on the phone with a distressed Mal and he assured her she had nothing to worry about, he would take care of everything. He ended the call right before entering the building and walked up to the front desk. He tried to get in with some lame excuse about there being a conference but the man behind the desk informed him that there were no conferences today.

However there was one in two days time, he asked for Keith's name and badge number and looked at his list. Keith's name wasn't on it. Sheriff Nottingham knew his name wasn't going to be on the list but this gave him the opportunity to see which of his colleagues were and when he spotted a familiar name he was pleased. He told the man he would get the mix-up sorted and return in a few days.

Realizing he had done everything he could do for today he returned home. Sarah was in the living room; a couple of cardboard boxes were on the dining room table in front of her and she was putting something wrapped in newspaper into one of them. Sheriff looked around and noticed Sarah was packing up all the porcelain figurines that had belonged to his mother before she had died.

Sarah was obviously still mad because when Keith made a comment about it, she only said they weren't her style and she was in the mood for some changes. She picked up one of the boxes and left the living room, probably to put it in the garage. Regina, who was sat in the sofa, snickered and Keith only now realized she had been sitting there the entire time.

He was already embarrassed enough he didn't really need this, he scoffed and turned to leave the room trying to ignore her. Regina, however, was tired of waiting around and said, "I want that name and don't give me that full moon crap! I want the name before I leave or I call out to Emma and tell her everything."

Keith rolled his eyes and shrugged, not really expecting Regina to have the guts to go through with her little plan. Unfortunately for him Regina had decided that she needed to know what had happened to her, the confrontation with the footage of her and a stranger on the night of her murder had her a little on edge.

"Emma! Eeeemmmmaaa!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Sheriff rushed over to where she was sitting and clasped a hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her. "Okay, okay... you win!" He hissed and added, "But not here, meet me outside."

A couple of moments later they were both sat in Keith's car. Sheriff pulled out his laptop and pressed play. A feed from a surveillance camera started playing; it showed the same neoclassic car with the flamboyant driver and Regina. They stopped at a gas station and while the driver was getting gas, Regina got out patted their shoulder and walked out of view.

A deep frown formed on Regina's face; again she had no knowledge of this. She had never seen the car or the driver, and she didn't remember stopping at a gas station either. "What is this?" she asked in a small voice.

"We had a deal, hadn't we... a name for your silence."

Regina nodded curtly.

"Cruella De Vil."

"What?" Regina grew even more confused.

"The name I promised you... Cruella De Vil." Sheriff repeated unfazed. "Importer of party items, if you get my drift. Not such a nice person, so I wouldn't bother her if I were you."

"Is this a joke? Do you honestly want me to believe the name I want is Cruella De Vil? Is she the driver?" Regina let out a loud laugh, startling Keith. "De Vil is driving a Panther De Ville? You've got to be kidding me?"

"You recognize the make of the car?"

"Of course I do. Neoclassic cars are kind of my thing, next to BMX." Regina answered matter-of-factly.

"Doesn't matter, you've got the name of your killer now leave me alone."

"Leave you alone?! If you know who did it, why aren't you doing something about it? You are sabotaging this case, _MY_ case. And I will find out what you're hiding." Regina yelled at Sheriff before getting out of the car, a little disappointed.

She didn't know if he was pulling her leg or not, either way she had never heard of a Cruella De Vil before. Regina had no idea what to do with this new piece of information. She put it in her notebook. Suddenly she felt lonely, really lonely and wanted nothing more than to be with Emma. She had expected to meet her in the house but Emma wasn't there. Regina contemplated her options and decided to visit the trailer; chances were Emma would be there.

~~~oOo~~~

Cora was sitting at the bar of the now empty cafeteria; she was drinking coffee hoping to sober up some more. Her fight with Karen was still replaying in her mind. The more she thought about it the stupider she felt, Cora still loved Henry and still felt bad about their divorce but getting into a fight with his new wife was not the way to show him. She took another sip of her lukewarm coffee and stared at the trophy case with the missing trophy.

She cleaned up, got on her bike and drove straight to Jeffery's house. That little piece of shit was not getting away with stealing that trophy. Cora would do whatever she could to get it back. When she was almost at the house she slowed down and tried to be as quiet as possible, the house seemed dark enough and Cora was careful not to draw attention upon herself. She needed to be as stealthily as possible if she wanted to pull this off.

When she was just outside the house she noticed that the windows were covered with yellowed newspapers, which was odd. Cora looked through a small cut in one of the newspapers and saw Jeffery, his two idiot friends and Kathryn gathered at a table that was covered with pills in large plastic bags.

"Goddammit, Kathryn!" Cora cursed under her breath and decided to leave the place. There was no way she was getting the trophy today.

Inside Jeffery was explaining how they would package the pills. "We have to repackage all of these. We'll put two pills in each of the smaller bags."

"Why two?" Kathryn asked.

"To double the profit of course. Buy one, get one for free. That way our product will get known a lot faster and we will earn double the money we spent." Jeffery reassured her, but Kathryn was still a little doubtful about her nephew's sales technique. "Well, get to work, guys! These pills don't pack themselves."

"Shouldn't we like wash our hands first?" Kathryn remarked.

"Nice thinking, Goldilocks! That's why you are the brains of this operation." Then he addressed his friends, "You see why we need her..." They all followed Kathryn towards the kitchen to wash their hands.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina and Emma were sitting in the trailer; the television was on in the background. When the APB was on Regina signaled to Emma and she turned up the sound. _"The police are looking for an important witness in the Regina Mills case. The driver of this car was seen a couple of hours before Regina Mills was murdered and has probably vital information pertaining this case. If you know this person, or if you've seen this vehicle please contact the FBI..."_

"What's wrong?" Emma asked in a concerned voice, Regina suddenly had this look about her features.

"I think that driver has something to do with how the drugs got into my system." Regina explained without breaking the promise she'd made Sheriff. She didn't want to get Emma into trouble, because she was sure that if Sheriff wasn't able to hurt her, he would definitely hurt Emma.

Emma, however, found it curious that Regina was making this connection. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, I heard the name of this notorious importer of drugs when I was at the station." Regina replied.

Emma only sighed so Regina continued, "Look, I have to know who's supplying the local drug dealers because no one around here has the equipment or the knowledge to fabricate drugs."

"If you want coke or pills you need to attend these student parties down at the docks." Emma said matter-of-factly.

Regina scoffed, "Why is this news to me?"

Emma gave her small smile, "Well, if you're not into these things you don't notice them." She looked at Regina who had a questionable expression on her face. "What? You want to go to one of those parties, don't you?"

When Regina and Emma walked up to the entrance the loud thumping music greeted them even before they opened the door. A couple was outside, hiding in a dark corner kissing passionately. Emma opened the door for Regina and both women got in, the music was deafening. Students were dancing wildly to the music and Regina chose a perfect spot at the bar to examine the crowd.

Emma noticed and chuckled at how obvious Regina was, it was very clear she wasn't there to enjoy the party. She looked more like an undercover cop than a student in the mood for a party. Emma got a little closer to Regina and told her. "You should relax more, you're too obvious. A drink?"

Regina shook her head; she was here for business not pleasure. And she doubted that anyone except Emma was able to see her, this made her smile a little though because it was sweet how Emma always forgot that she wasn't really there. At least she wasn't for other people...

"What?" Emma asked when she saw the change in Regina, whose smile just grew wider. "What?"

"Nothing." Regina lied and Emma narrowed her eyes playfully at Regina. "It's just cute how you always forget that you're the only that sees me."

Emma rolled her eyes and teasingly shoved Regina when suddenly a hand grabbed her shoulder. "Hi, what are you doing here? They finally let you out?"

"Yeah, they did." Emma said.

"So how's life been... busy banging students?" he asked Emma and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Emma wanted to hit him in the face until she remembered that this encounter could be used to her advantage. "Something like that, you know me. Just looking for a little something to party, you know where I can get some?"

He looked around hastily before showing Emma a small plastic bag with two blue pills in it. "Blue ghosts. And they're having a discount today." He looked around the crowd and pointed straight at Jeffery, "And there is where you can get them."

"Thanks, man." Emma patted him on the shoulder and walked in the direction he had shown her.

Jeffery was dancing, he had no choice he had taken one of his pills to show a client they were safe and now the XTC was running through his veins making it impossible to stand still. Emma walked up to him and asked if he could hook her up but he told her she needed to wait until he was done dancing. When he was done, he asked her how much she needed and Emma bought just one bag.

Emma was feeling adventurous and asked, "I was looking for someone to provide larger amounts... like Neville, or De Vil... an important supplier."

"Never heard of." Jeffery lied. Emma thanked him and went back to Regina. She told her she hadn't been successful in anything other than buying two pills. Regina was not really surprised but at least she knew some of the local drug dealers. One of them she had seen a couple of years ago in the BMX club but she couldn't remember his name.

After a couple more hours in the loud music they exited the party, Regina shoved Emma jokingly. "You don't know the first thing about dancing."

"I don't," Emma feigned shock. "I consider dancing more..."

But she was unable to finish that sentence, a fist connected hard with her jaw and she fell to the ground. When she was down on the ground she felt a foot connect with her head and it took her a moment to realize what was going on. Regina screamed for them to stop it but of course no one paid attention to her.

Jeffery bent down over Emma and grasped her face with his hand; he pulled her close and growled, "If you ever mention De Vil again, I will kill you myself! Do you understand me?"

Emma nodded vigorously and said she did. He let go of her and he and his friends started to walk away. Regina watched them more closely before bending down and checking Emma's injuries. She had a split lip that was bleeding and a gash above her eye which was also bleeding. "Are you okay?"

Emma only nodded and pressed her sleeve against her lip to stop the bleeding. Regina sitting close to her, touching her gently was helping a lot. It had all happened so fast she didn't really feel any pain. They were both watching the trio get into a car parked only a couple of feet away from them.

"I'm so sorry." Regina said suddenly before getting up and following the guys, leaving behind a dazed and hurt Emma.

Regina was sitting in the back seat next to one of them, their leader was in the passenger seat and the third one was the driver. They were discussing what had happened. The one in the back, next to Regina, thought Emma was just trying to impress them and they shouldn't pay too much attention to her.

"I'm not taking any chances..." Jeffery said, "You think Goldilocks mentioned De Vil?"

Regina had no idea who this Goldilocks was, obviously it was a nickname but she had never heard it before. The one in the back didn't know, but the driver was pretty sure this Goldilocks would never talk about De Vil.

"Maybe she heard something at the BMX club?" Jeffery wondered.

"Fuck it! I should have beaten her more! Shut her up for good!" the one in the back was getting more and more agitated.

"Calm down, Gio! She won't talk, believe me." Jeffery tried to calm his friend.

While they were discussing De Vil and whether they should tell her what had happened, Regina had taken the phone no one was paying attention to. She was scrolling through the contacts hoping she would find something. She found no De Vil, but she did find a CDV it could be anything but Regina decided to write the number attached to this name on her hand. She just hoped Emma would understand why she had left her.

~~~oOo~~~

The next morning Sarah walked into Emma's bedroom to wake her and ask her what she wanted for breakfast. Sarah pulled open the curtains and Emma sat up, when she turned back to Emma she noticed for the first time the bruises on her face. Sarah kneeled down next to the young blonde and immediately started checking the wounds. It was very clear that Sarah was worried about what had happened.

Emma didn't like to be fuzzed over and gently pushed Sarah's hands away reassuring her concerned foster mom that she was alright. "It's nothing, just some jerk that got jealous because I was hitting on his girlfriend."

"Shall I bring an icepack from the store?" Sarah asked, but Emma shook her head, "Well, I put some dinner for you in the fridge because I'm not here this evening. Chicken breast, good?" Emma nodded and Sarah continued, "It's for you, okay, not for your father."

Sarah got up to leave and released a long breath, then stopped at the door and turned back to Emma. "And you didn't know she was already seeing someone?"

"No, mom, but it's okay... really."

Regina chose this moment to walk up the stairs and announce that she was in the possession of Cruella De Vil's number. She passed Sarah and walked into Emma's bedroom.

"Wow, congratulations. Let me know when I have to get myself knocked down again." Emma replied, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Sorry." Regina said in a small voice.

"Sorry?"

Regina watched Emma but a smile slowly formed on her face, it was clear Emma was just enjoying a little payback and when she started laughing Emma joined her. The blonde hissed and said, "Don't make me laugh, it hurts." But there was no malice in her tone; she was enjoying this just as much as the brunette was.

Regina suggested that they should call De Vil, via Skype because than De Vil wouldn't know who was calling. Emma suddenly grew serious, "Regina, we shouldn't mess around with these people."

"I didn't come this close just to quit now." Regina said and pulled Emma's laptop on her lap.

"I'm serious, we're talking about a huge drug dealer..."

"But..."

Emma cut Regina off. "No, Regina, it's easy for you. But for me these people are very dangerous." And she tried to pull the laptop away from Regina.

"Easy?" Regina asked incredulously. "Yeah, for me it's _easy_. I just walk around here pointlessly." She got more and more angry and got to her feet. She threw the laptop to Emma and added, "Finding my killer is ... what, a hobby?"

Regina started to walk away but she turned back and shouted, "And if you must know... I got that name from _your_ father!" then she got out of Emma's room and slammed the door.

Regina was right Emma knew. This might be more dangerous for her than for Regina but not less important. She swallowed and pushed the dial button. The number was formed and a female voice with an accent said, "Hello?"

Emma didn't know what to say and tried to deepen her voice and impersonate one of the drug dealers she had met at the party. Of course her plan backfired and the line was disconnected immediately.

~~~oOo~~~

Zelena and Leo had spent the last couple of days on the tracks; he had been coaching her and was surprised that she really had some talent for this. He thought she was just using this as an excuse to get closer to him. He really liked her but a relationship with her was just impossible. Of course he wasn't blind and had noticed they were bonding over practices and yesterday they somehow wound up in each other's arms and almost kissed.

At the last possible moment he had held back and not closed the distance. Nothing had been said about it and he thought Zelena was feeling relieved but today she was having a lot of trouble with some basic movements. He tried to convince her that she was getting there but suddenly she got off the bike, put it down gently and pulled of her helmet. She stomped away and Leo cut her off right before she left the track.

"What's wrong?" he asked her in a gentle tone.

"You're a real idiot, you know!" Zelena replied and tried to bypass him but he didn't let her so she asked, "Why didn't you just kiss me yesterday?"

Leo was at a loss for words and just shrugged.

"Is it because of Regina?"

"That too... but it's more because of our parents..."

Zelena frowned, "What about our parents?"

Leo looked her up and down; wanting to make sure she wasn't joking around. But judging from the look on Zelena's face he was sure she wasn't, "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Zelena was becoming more and more impatient; she didn't like to be in the dark.

"Nothing. Never mind." Leo said and shook his head a little; he started pulling on his helmet again. Zelena tried to get him to spill the beans but he wouldn't, he told her it wasn't his place to tell her and drove away. A confused looking Zelena stayed behind.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was sitting at a computer in the police station; if Emma wouldn't help her she was going to solve her case alone. She had opened a program and typed in the number she had found and was waiting for the computer to pull up some audio files or anything other useful.

Agent Lucas meanwhile was on the phone, when she got off she addressed agent French, "That car... it was a Panther De Ville, not a '85 Zimmer Gold Spirit."

Agent French scoffed, "How dense is this officer Jones?"

When the computer indicated it had found some files Regina pulled on some headphones to drown out the background noises. She listened to a recording of Cruella De Vil and someone she called 'darling'. They were talking about a party and taking care of appliances; fire pits or something. Regina jotted down the things she thought were important and Googled them. Happy to have an address she went home and switched her bike for a motor bike and decided to check out the place.

It led her to a tire company just out of state. There was nothing important going on, just a guy loading up a truck. Regina decided to follow him on a hunch. He stopped at a mansion where a lot of cars were parked some of them had plates from her state, others didn't. Then she noticed the Panther De Ville she had been in and she knew she had arrived at the right place. Now all she had to do was find out what was going on.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff and Emma were sitting at the kitchen table; they were eating lunch and drinking coffee. They were both silent not really enjoying each other's company, just barely tolerating it. Keith asked, "Have you seen young Mills around?"

"Nope, haven't seen her anymore." Emma lied.

She wasn't sure if Keith believed her or not but she didn't care, he put down his cup and left the kitchen without saying a word. He was dressed in his uniform but Emma was sure he was going to see Leo instead of going to work. Apart from the Mills case there was barely anything to do. She didn't care where he went as long as he wasn't home, ever since Regina had mentioned getting the name from him she trusted him even less than before. And by asking her about Regina he had unknowingly confirmed her suspicion.

She finished eating, quickly cleaned the table and went to the garage. She tried not to roll her eyes when she passed Keith's trophy case, filled with trophies he won back in the day in BMX racing. She went to his desk and started looking for something that shouldn't be there. She wasn't entirely sure what it was until she found a thumb drive inside a small fake trophy.

In the meantime Keith had arrived at Mal's and noticed Leo was getting ready for a run, he called out to him and was pleased to see his focus was back. He gave the young man some last minute advice and went inside. Mal had been watching Leo from behind a window and voiced her concern the moment she heard Keith, "What will become of him when I go to jail?"

"I won't let that happen, don't worry about it."

With a solemn expression she turned towards him and he placed a loving kiss on her forehead.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" Mal asked him and he nodded his consent.

~~~oOo~~~

The sun had just went done when Sarah and her hiking group were around the corner from Mal's B&B. Her friends all loved a little gossip and the B&B brought up some interesting topics. First they discussed the murder and how it could have been anyone because they were sure it was just some random act of violence but quickly the subject switched to its owner, Mal Nottingham.

Sarah said something nice about Mal shocking the other women, "Wow, Sarah, I think that's the first time you said something nice about her."

"Well..." Sarah shrugged; she tolerated Mal because she knew she had to. Keith would never give up on her.

"Nadia, did you hear?" One of them called to one of the women in the back.

"You know we tried to make a list of every man who Mal bedded once..." started Ashley.

"Yeah," continued Amber, "we had to stop because our evening wasn't long enough to compose that list." Both women started laughing and Sarah couldn't help but join in.

"Huh, a police car..." Ashley said suddenly when they got a little closer to the B&B.

Amber quickly turned back to Sarah, "You keep a close eye on that man of yours..."

Sarah was as surprised as the other women about why Keith's car was outside Mal's B&B but she tried to play it cool and informed the women that Keith was there to train Leo. "Actually, since he's here I'm going to go over there and get myself a ride home." She swiftly said goodbye to her friends and walked to the B&B. She entered as quietly as possible and was horrified by the scene in front of her: Keith and Mal were snuggled up on the couch. Both of them fast asleep.

~~~oOo~~~

Officer Jones had his gun pulled out and was anxiously awaiting orders, his heart was beating fast and he was sweating profusely. A fellow officer asked if they shouldn't wait for the FBI or Sheriff Nottingham but Killian informed her there wasn't time, not if they wanted to catch the perps red-handed.

They rang the doorbell when all cops were ready to storm the house. Someone came to answer the door but was immediately pushed against the wall and Mirandized. The other cops all stormed in as well, not knowing how many dealers were inside.

Half an hour later, Jeffery and his friends were cuffed and put in the back of a police van while Officer Jones was escorting a cuffed Kathryn to the back of his own squad car. He gently put her inside and returned to the front.

~~~oOo~~~

Regina was standing in the middle of a wedding party. Everyone was dressed in white and people were dancing, laughing, and having a good time. Regina was used of not being noticed and scanned the crowd for anyone that might look familiar. She was unsuccessful; there were just too many people.

She was about to leave when she spotted an extravagantly dressed woman, she was the only one who wasn't dressed all in white. She had a clear preference for black. It was obvious she had been drinking because her movements were a bit off and Regina stared at her. Was she the woman from the footage?

The woman turned in her direction and locked eyes with Regina. The sensation was so weird Regina immediately realized this person was able to see her. Rooted to the spot she noticed the strange lady approached her. She didn't know what was going to happen, maybe this person was just drunk and hallucinating, maybe she was making eye contact with someone behind Regina, maybe... She could think of 100 more maybe's that wouldn't change the fact that the woman was standing right in front of her.

"What are you doing here, darling?" she asked in a heavy British accent.

"De Vil?" it was more a statement than a question and the only thing a shocked Regina was able to utter.

* * *

 ** _Thoughts about who the killer is are still welcome :-)._  
**


	10. Cruella de Vil

_**A/N: I am really sorry it took me more than a year to update this story. I have had a major case of writer's block and also didn't have much time to read or write anyway.**_

 ** _Almost the only reading I've done was beta read for a friend (check out Nascar3L) and even that was difficult because I lacked time. This week I found some inspiration and I finally finished this chapter which I'm now sharing with all of you. I hope you still enjoy my story. New readers, welcome!  
_**

 ** _I'm not going to make promises on when the next chapter will be out but this is a nice long one to try to make up for the wait. Because not all of you might remember what has happened so far I added a "previously"._**

* * *

 _ **Previously:**_ _Regina woke up in room 108 and later discovered that she had been murdered but was somehow still "alive". However, not everyone could see her, only a handful of people could:_

 _Sheriff Keith Nottingham, the corrupt sheriff of Darkton and Emma's foster dad._

 _Zelena, her stepsister._

 _Cora, her alcoholic mother._

 _Kathryn, her best friend, who was involved in a drug deal._

 _Cruela de Vil, an obscure figure (whom you'll learn more about in this chapter)._

 _And Emma, someone she hadn't met before the night of her murder but instantly shared a deep connection with..._

 _The FBI (SA's Belle French and Ruby Lucas) took over the case and Regina followed the investigation as closely as possible because she was trying to uncover the truth. While doing this she learned how corrupt Sheriff really was, he even deleted a part of the video surveillance from a gas station where Regina had last been before she ended up dead._

 _The night of the murder Darkton had its annual Archerfest; Regina attended the festivities and she broke things off with her boyfriend Leo. She decided to enjoy herself and somehow drugs had ended up in her system which was weird because Regina was a professional BMX racer and would never touch the stuff._

 _In the previous chapter Regina had learned that Cruella de Vil was a person of interest so she went to a party at Cruella's sister's house to find out more... There she discovered that Cruella was able to see her as well._

* * *

"I see you're not dead." Cruella stated calmly. Behind her the party was still in full swing.

Regina was appalled by the statement and the calm way in which it was uttered, like her not being dead was somehow disappointing for this person. "Fuck you!"

"Well well, I see that smart mouth of yours hasn't improved much, darling." With that Cruella rounded the table Regina was standing behind, when she was close enough she grabbed the brunette's arm and pulled her away from the party. Due to the alcohol in her system her movements were a little harder than she had intended and Regina struggled against them to get away but wasn't very successful.

Cruella added, "If you came here to start a row, you better piss off then."

"Let go of me!" Regina shouted and spat in Cruella's face.

"That's no way to treat people, darling. You have the audacity to come to my sister's wedding, uninvited, to spit in my face? How did you even get here?" Cruella might be drunk but she wasn't letting this ruffian threat her like that in her own house.

Cruella's sister chose that moment to check up on her and wondered out loud what she was up to. "Cruella, what are you doing here? Let's dance." And she gently took Cruella's arm to lead her back to the dance floor.

"Let me introduce you first, dear." Cruella said and gestured at the wall. "She forgot to bring a gift, I'm afraid."

Her sister glanced at the empty spot and asked, "Who?" Blaming this on her sister's state of drunkenness she tried again, "Come, sis, let's get back to the dance floor."

Cruella didn't immediately follow her sister but glanced with a growing look of apprehension back at Regina, who asked her in a broken voice "What have you done with me after our little trip?"

"Look, this is a party. That means I drink until I'm unable to stand on my feet. I don't have bloody time for this... whatever _it_ is. You can either join the party or get out of here! The choice is yours." With that Cruella turned and left Regina leaning against the wall.

Regina let out a long breath she didn't know she had been holding. She watched Cruella get onto the dance floor and started enjoying herself like nothing had happened. The confusion within Regina grew even more until she noticed a stray cell phone on one of the tables. She grabbed it and dialed the only number she could think of.

 _"Hello?"_

"Emma, I'm at Cruella De Vil's place." Regina informed her.

 _"What the hell, Regina?"_

"Emma, listen, you have to get the police here." Regina went on to give Emma the address.

 _"Hold on a moment, what am I supposed to tell them?"_

"I don't know... you figure it out." Regina said and Emma told her she would. She repeated the address and Regina confirmed before she hung up the phone.

~~~oOo~~~

Special Agent Lucas was walking towards her desk when she noticed a brown envelope lying on top of it. She quickly checked if it was intended for her and when she saw it was she opened it and found a flash drive inside. Without waiting for anyone, lest there be someone else who tried to interfere with this already complex case, she put it in her computer and opened the file that was on it. _Just one file, weird._

The image in front of her made her gasp; this was a piece of the footage from the gas station's security cam. The Panther De Ville, in which they thought to have seen Regina Mills, stopped to get gas. Inside an eccentric looking person was having a heated discussion with a much younger woman. The driver got out and seconds later also the younger woman got out. The argument continued and the young brunette pushed the driver, who had gotten closer to her, away before turning to face the camera confirming that it was indeed none other than Regina Mills. After that she walked out of view, but clearly walked back in the direction of the road.

Ruby went back until she got a clear view of the license plate and immediately started a database search for a name and address. Within minutes she had what she was looking for. She grabbed her cell and dialed Belle informing her of what she had just discovered. They agreed to check it out as quickly as possible with the right paperwork of course. Ruby wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

~~~oOo~~~

Meanwhile in interrogation room 2 Officer Jones was interviewing Kathryn about her involvement with the drugs. He told her he was pretty sure she was in it for the money, working in a grocery store while trying to get yourself through college couldn't be easy and drugs were a lot more profitable than vegetables.

The entire time though his eyes kept glimpsing at her bosom, Kathryn didn't particularly like this but it gave her an idea. "So Officer, if I let you cup a feel... is there a chance you'll release me without all these questions?"

"Hmm... interesting offer." He replied, an eager tongue licked his lower lip and it was very obvious he was indeed seriously considering her offer.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! I _AM_ a suspect. Isn't there a law against this, I'm pretty sure I should file a sexual harassment complaint against you!" Kathryn yelled.

This shook Jones out whatever boob infused trance he was in and he started stammering. "Please... I'm... I'm sorry! You're right that was totally uncalled for! I was only joking, I'm sure you knew that."

His lame excuse wasn't bought in the slightest which he noticed; at least he wasn't _that_ dense. He tried again, "Please, I'll help you... Say you were just visiting, had no knowledge your cousin was involved in any of that. With your perfect record the DA will very likely believe you and you'll get off with a warning... plus a tear or two wouldn't hurt either."

Kathryn wasn't sure if she was less appalled by this or not but it was actually a good idea she realized. No one was expecting her of running their little operation and if she played this innocence card well she could get off with nothing at all. She didn't really have another choice if Regina found out her best friend was involved in selling drugs it would ruin their friendship that was a given.

The blonde thanked Jones and did exactly as he had told her.

~~~oOo~~~

The next morning Regina woke up at the dining table in Cruella's mansion. The eccentric woman was too busy making pancakes for her niece to notice her. Regina grabbed another cell and tried to dial Emma who didn't pick up. Cruella chose that moment to walk into her living room and noticed the brunette trying to make a phone call. They made eye contact and Cruella realized in that moment that she had indeed seen Regina, that it hadn't been something her drunken mind had made up. "Oh good, you're still here... So it wasn't the gin."

Regina turned around and asked in a tone lacking any form of patience, "Are you going to tell me what you did with me or not?"

"Do you want one?" Cruella asked casually as if it was the most normal thing to do.

Regina just stared astonished at her remaining quiet. Cruella walked back into the kitchen to retrieve the stack of pancakes and offered one to Regina who eagerly grabbed it, she was beyond hungry. "I wonder why dead people always wander around... wouldn't it be much nicer to just go to a better place or whatever awaits us after we die..." Cruella continued, Regina wasn't sure if she was even addressing her or just voicing her inner thoughts.

Before either woman had the chance to say more there was a knock on the door. Cruella's niece skipped to the door and opened it. "Hello, can we ask whose awesome car that is there on the driveway?" Regina recognized Agent Lucas's voice immediately and looked pleased when she saw both SA Lucas and SA French walk into the mansion.

They immediately flashed their badges while making introductions, "Good morning, Special Agents Lucas and French. We're sorry to interrupt but could we ask you some questions about a case as a witness?"

"Darling, Bizzies."

Cruella's sister stumbled into the living room as well, a glass of water and some aspirin in her hand. She casually took the medicine before asking them if they had a warrant to search her house. Lucas informed her they weren't there to investigate just wanted to ask her sister some question involving the dead of a young woman in Darkton. Cruella looked at Regina and decided to go with them.

~~~oOo~~~

Henry was pacing around in his kitchen, realizing little by little he had no other option than to call Cora. Which he really didn't feel like since the scene she'd made last time around... He sighed and picked up his phone to dial her number. After a couple of rings came a distant _hello_ from Cora.

Knowing they first had to talk about what had happened Henry decided to cut right to the chase, "Yes, Cora, look I never want something like what happened the other day to happen again, okay? We talked with Zelena and came up with a solution by ourselves and I never want to discuss this with you again."

 _"Will she continue the lessons?"_

"No, but that wasn't your call to make."

 _"I know, you're right."_

Cora's tone was deflated but at least she was compliant and that was all Henry wanted right now, all he could handle really. "Okay, so it's Sebastian's birthday and I wanted to make an apple pie like the one Regina used to make... She had her own special recipe that she wrote down somewhere but I can't find it anywhere. Is it possible it's at your place?"

 _"I don't know... I only own the one cookbook but I'll look for it if you want."_

"Oh, that would be very nice of you. Thank you, Cora." Henry's heart felt a lot lighter. They said their goodbyes shortly after.

~~~oOo~~~

Zelena was a bit bored; luckily she had found a rather interesting box of old photos to rummage through. She knew her mother wouldn't approve and maybe Henry wouldn't be too pleased either because the box didn't belong to her, it belonged to her parents and she hadn't exactly asked permission to look at it.

Sitting in the semi-dark kitchen she opened the box carefully and looked at the first picture she encountered. There was an old model of a Subaru on it; in front of the car were standing two men, both held a bow. Although their faces were barely recognizable Zelena clearly made out her late father's face. The other man she didn't know. They looked really happy both were sporting a huge smile.

Unconsciously she ran a finger over Robin's, her father's, cheek... letting out a deep sigh.

"Whatcha got there?" Sebastian had crept into the kitchen and nearly gave Zelena a heart attack.

"Fucking little dipshit! Can you never behave like a normal human being?" Zelena attempted to strike Sebastian but he ducked away just in time. Meanwhile she did her best to hide the picture she was holding.

"I don't think you should be looking at those..." He said matter-of-factly pointing a finger at the box with photos.

"And I think Henry asked you to get dressed like ages ago and you're still not ready..." the redhead replied smugly, "Maybe I should call him... Henry! Heeeennnnnrrrrryyyyy!"

Hastily Sebastian made his way upstairs to get dressed before he was caught by Henry and Zelena stayed behind sporting a huge smirk. Momentarily enjoying her triumph before returning her attention to the shoebox in front of her. She put the photo back and pulled out another one. The same car was in it but this time the two men with the bows were joined by two women. Looking more closely Zelena discovered one of the women was her own mother, Karen and the other was Leo's mother, Mal.

This little piece of information shone a light on the other man's id; it was none other than David Nottingham, Keith's brother and Leo's father. The four friends were all linking arms and laughing, they looked really close. Zelena wondered what had happened that was so horrible that Karen and Mal didn't talk anymore. She desperately wanted to ask her mother but she feared she wouldn't give her any information about the matter. It already was a forbidden subject.

Later that day Zelena and Sebastian were looking at the rest of the pictures. Zelena felt sorry for leaving him out, it was his father in the pictures as well so she opted for some bonding time with her little brother. After putting away the boxes with apples they sat down on some empty crates and Zelena showed him the pictures she had been looking at.

Karen chose that moment to walk in and although it was clear she wasn't too pleased she refrained from commenting on it. Zelena said "I have some questions."

"Sebastian, honey, go to the shop there should be someone in case a customer walks in and needs help."

When the boy had disappeared Karen let out a sigh, "I thought you would have..."

Zelena handed Karen the photograph with the four friends next to the car, she gave her mother a moment to look at it and asked "What happened between you and Leo's parents? Why do you never talk about dad?"

"I do talk about him." The older woman answered, smiling nervously.

"No, you don't... not really. Leo mentioned something had happened between our parents." Zelena continued. Karen was looking for an easy escape but started to realize there wasn't one. When the redhead showed her the picture and started pointing out everyone in it and how happy they were Karen sat down next to her daughter and patted her thigh briefly.

"The only thing I know is that dad got into an accident and died... and that you were very very sad until you found Henry. But what happened exactly?" Zelena tried again.

"I never wanted to tell you when you were little..." Karen started, "...but your dad was having an affair." She paused and took a deep breath, "With Leo's dad."

"Huh... how... and... When was that?" a startled Zelena asked hesitantly.

"Before the accident. A couple of years ago." Karen answered, willing her voice to be steady.

"And for how long?"

"I don't know... really." This time Karen's voice audibly broke, she turned away from her daughter to collect herself. "Listen, at the moment of the accident your dad was in the car with Leo's dad. I didn't know it, Mal didn't know it... nobody knew." An escaped tear rolled down Karen's cheek and she took another deep breath.

"And who knows this?" Zelena paused before asking, "Did Regina know?"

"Regina was told by Henry. We thought it would only confuse you and your brother unnecessarily."

"I didn't know dad was such a slut." Zelena walked away angrily.

"I don't want you to talk about your father like that!" Karen shouted after her.

~~~oOo~~~

Sheriff Nottingham walked up to the reception desk and announced his reason for visiting. The clerk asked his ID and Keith showed it without delay. "Can you tell me how to get to the classroom then I can start working a bit?"

"Sir, this is a place where sensitive forensic materials are kept... You can't possibly believe we let people just wander around here?" the clerk said matter-of-factly, not believing what he had just heard.

Sheriff nodded and the clerk continued, "You can sit in our waiting area over there, someone will come shortly to get you and show you the way." Without further ado Keith did what he was told, a bit unsettled hoping his stupid remark hadn't made the clerk too suspicious.

Twenty minutes later a group of police officers was lead by the female teacher to the classroom. She was running a little late and had yet to pick up her folder with the handouts. She informed them "Just continue down this hall then to the left follow the grey arrows. It's room C248."

When she turned her attention from the group Keith ceased the opportunity and quickly disappeared inside a random lab. Inside he spotted a lab coat and a mask and swiftly donned both. Walking out of it a bit more confident he went in search of the lab labeled "DNA". He observed the lab rats working inside, beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. His breathing was rather labored and his heart was beating dangerously fast. Hoping they would soon leave, he nearly had a heart attack when his cell phone started to vibrate inside his pocket. Luckily he had remembered to put it on vibrate, yet the vibrating sounded too loud to him. He took it out and hastily glanced around him before looking at the caller ID 'Agent Lucas'. He ended the call and looked up just in time to see one of the lab rats had come dangerously close to his hiding spot. Losing his nerve entirely he ran out of there and didn't stop until he was safely in his car.

Beating his two hands on the steering wheel hard, berating himself and the failure that he was until he was distracted by his cell phone again. Agent Lucas was adamant about reaching him apparently. "Nottingham."

On the other end Ruby informed him they had brought in Cruella for interrogation and also mentioned the time lapse on the surveillance feed.

"Does she say anything?" he paused and waited for the answer then he told her, "I'm sorry, Agent Lucas, but I logged the time lapse per protocol. Yes, I'm coming in... there was some trouble at home."

~~~oOo~~~

Inside interrogation room 1 SA's Lucas and French sat at one end of the table, at the other end Cruella was sat. A laptop in front of her, on it the surveillance feed that showed her giving Regina Mills a lift.

"Look, Ms de Vil, you take Regina Mills with you in your car and a couple of hours later she ends up murdered a couple of miles away from the place you were last seen with her. Care to elaborate?" Agent Lucas spoke in a firm voice. Regina was also sat on the table directly facing Cruella.

"She wanted a ride." Cruella said matter-of-factly.

"We have a feed of the gas station you stopped at; this crucial moment was originally deleted. Any idea how that happened?" Lucas asked her.

"I have no idea how that happened." Cruella replied a bit defiant.

Ruby asked Belle to hand her the flash drive and Regina saw this as her chance to address Cruella. "Do you know Keith Nottingham?"

Cruella was a bit perplexed, she had tried to ignore Regina but it was particularly hard when she was spoken to. "Why are you sitting there, Conscious? Are you trying to trick me?"

Regina smirked at the unease Cruella was showing, hoping she would shed a light on what had happened. She didn't care one bit if she had to trick Cruella a little; she just wanted to know what had happened.

"Luckily for us the crucial moment was sent to us via this drive. Which was put inside this envelop," Ruby put the drive and said envelop in front of Cruella before continuing, "Can you tell us why your sister's address is on it?"

This piece of information unsettled Cruella even more but she was careful not to show too much emotion at this news. She cautiously glanced at Regina who was just staring at her. "I'm not saying anything without my lawyer present."

"Well if you don't want to help us you are only incriminating yourself. Which could become rather annoying but as is your wish." Both agents got up and left.

"Just tell what you did... You can't keep this to yourself much longer." Regina said to Cruella.

But the older woman ignored her and took out her cell phone; she opened it and removed the battery pack. Regina watched her closely and noticed the phone was a dual SIM. Cruella took out one and put it inside her shoe.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Regina asked flabbergasted. "Where are you putting that?"

"I'm done helping you, darling." Cruella said and Regina's only choice was to look at her in total confusion.

While waiting for Cruella's lawyer to turn up, Agent Lucas and Sheriff Nottingham were at his desk. She was showing him the footage with the time lapse and indicated when it happened exactly. "Look, Nottingham, here it is. Exactly 12 minutes are missing, how's that possible?" she straightened and put her hands inside her pockets.

Keith, who was still sat at his desk, held up his hands. "Have you looked in your drawer?"

"My what now?" she clearly wasn't following.

"When I was done with the analysis I put the footage in your drawer and I reported this." Sheriff said as if he was talking to a slow person.

"What you should have done, was report this time lapse DIRECTLY to me. You only told me nothing of importance was on it." Ruby had had it with this man, she suspected he might have something to do with it but without concrete evidence there was little she could do.

"There was nothing of importance...only that little time lapse." He was acting as if that wasn't a big deal at all. "It's nothing, really. Old shit like what they use at the gas station always malfunctions, we should be lucky there was footage to begin with."

Ruby barely contained an eye-roll and shook her head slightly, Keith was so sure of himself but the man was just full of shit. "Did you upload the footage to the central database?"

"Yes, that was me."

"Then what is this?" she took her hand from her pocket and in it she held the flash drive.

He took it from her hand and studied it carefully. "This is not the flash drive I used. The one you gave me didn't have this silver key chain."

She took the flash drive from his hands and narrowed her eyes at him, "Yes, there most definitely was a silver key chain on the one I gave you! According to you, _where_ is this original flash drive?"

"That should be in my desk."

"Okay, show me."

He opened his drawer which was full of clutter; he rummaged through it until he found a red flash drive identical to the one Ruby had shown him. He wordlessly put it in his computer and clicked to open the files. The screen was immediately filled with half naked babes on bikes and vintage cars. "Oh, this is clearly not the one. This is Killian's research of the car."

"I have had it with your amateurism! Is this a joke to all of you? A young woman is dead might I remind you!" Ruby could have smacked him, she was that angry.

He started to apologize but Lucas cut him off midsentence, "You know this looks a lot like obstruction of justice."

"Obstruction? I can assure you you are wrong! Regina was the girlfriend of my nephew, everyone knows her and her family around here." He looked at Ruby who's jaw clenched but she remained silent, he asked "So what do you know about this Devill?"

"Nothing! If we don't find anything, she'll get off with a fine for driving without a license plate. That's it."

About an hour had gone by before Cruella's lawyer showed up; when he was there they showed him the way to his client and gave them a couple of minutes. After that both agents returned to the interrogation room where Regina was leaning against a wall but only one person in the room was aware of her presence there.

"I'm going to make this quick, if I notice that my client's rights are in any way violated this interview ends immediately. I hope that's clear."

"Ms de Vil," Agent Lucas addressed Cruella as if the lawyer hadn't said anything, "What are we looking at?" with that she hit play on the laptop and the video feed started playing.

"That's very simple, darling. I was meeting a client, client cancelled the meeting and I returned home. On my way there I encounter a young woman. I offer her a ride. At the gas station she becomes difficult which was more than I was willing to handle so I left her there. End of story." Cruella told them very businesslike.

"Okay, again but slower. You own a business that handles in party equipment, right?"

"Yes. "

"Does everyone in your sector drive without plates?" Agent French asked.

"Right, the license plate... Give my client a fine, will you?" the lawyer interrupted. "I think my client is being criminalized here while we do nothing but cooperate. She gave you her cell phone voluntarily."

"Ah yes, the cell phone that was conveniently turned off at the night of the murder." Agent Lucas replied sarcastically. "How did your client cancel exactly? Smoke signals? Carrier pigeon?"

"Okay, time-out, my client is not saying another word until she has had that tea she was promised." With that the lawyer got up and left the interrogation room, both agents in tow.

"I never hitchhike." Regina told Cruella when everyone had left.

"I knew it was a bad idea to take you with me." Cruella sighed.

"Where was I hitchhiking then? What was the exact spot I was standing?" Regina's voice grew louder, she still refused to believe she had been hitchhiking; she left her spot at the wall and put her hands on the table leaning close to Cruella but she wasn't impressed.

"Piss off!"

A very angry Regina left without another word.

~~~oOo~~~

"The images aren't enough to hold her?" Emma asked while picking up a crate with fruit and putting it on the stack with other crates. Regina was sitting nearby cross-legged, watching the stills which clearly showed Cruella's face at the gas station.

"Apparently not... they're looking at who altered the surveillance feed. That's it?" Regina stated.

"But why would Sheriff protect her?" Emma asked and briefly paused replacing crates.

"Maybe he's afraid..." Regina shrugged before studying the still again. "But what's the link between the 5 see-ers and Cruella de Vil?"

Emma looked at her and simply stated, "You."

~~~oOo~~~

Keith Nottingham rushed home and frantically started searching his desk in the garage. He was trying to find the flash drive, but it was not there. Somehow he expected this but it still pissed him off. He cursed and banged his fists on the desk. He calmed down for a second, went to his secret hiding place and briefly feared it might have been discovered too. Upon checking it he noticed everything was still in the small box, the grey hound key chain and everything else he needed to hide. He was a little relieved.

He went back to the kitchen where Sarah was cutting some vegetables and said, "Where is Emma? She has to find her own place; I've had it with her!"

Sarah didn't even bother to turn around and yelled, "Dr. Lucas is convinced she's doing better, Emma stays! I have had it too, you hear me!"

Keith's brow furrowed, he had no idea what Sarah was on about or why she was so mad. He slowly approached her and asked her what was wrong. She put down the knife, which was also a relief, before telling him she saw him with Mal. He immediately went on to defend himself, claiming nothing happened but Sarah wasn't convinced because he'd lied about it.

"I knew if I told you, you would make a scene." Keith paused, "And that's exactly what you're doing."

"I saw her lying in your arms..." Sarah sighed before resuming cutting the vegetables.

"There's been a murder in that place, they are suspecting Mal and Leo... she was scared I tried to comfort her. That's all. You know what; I will accompany you and Emma to Dr. Lucas next time."

He put his arms around her and although Sarah was still angry, she opted to believe him one last time. He even offered to help her prepare dinner but that was a bit too much and Sarah declined. Having nothing else to do he decided to drive to Emma's working place.

Emma was coming out of the store carrying a crate when she noticed Keith's squad car pulling up. She barely suppressed rolling her eyes.

"It was you that sent the flash drive to the feds, wasn't it?" It was neither a question nor a statement but something in between so Emma decided the safest option was to just stare at him and refrain from answering.

"Answer me, goddamnit! You have no idea what you're meddling with!" Emma turned back around but just kept staring at him, "Was it that little girlfriend of yours, is she the one that's whispering in your ear? Did you even tell her where you've been these last couple of years?"

Still Emma refused to answer him and this made Keith furious, he grabbed whatever piece of fruit he could get his hands on and started to throw them at her, "Answer me, you fucking psychopath!"

One tomato flew past Emma but the second and third one hit her and something just snapped in her. Just as she was about to let her anger out on Sheriff, Sebastian showed up out of nowhere.

"Are those rotten? They aren't, are they? They're good."

The appearance of Sebastian and his simple question defused the situation and Keith just got back into his car and drove off. Emma patted Sebastian on the shoulder. That boy had just saved her from a lot of trouble and she couldn't have been happier.

~~~oOo~~~

Cora was working on her laptop when she heard Regina coming in; she smiled at her and asked, "Do you remember that recipe for the apple pie you used to make, dear?"

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for apple pie?" Regina sighed and sat down on the coffee table.

"Okay... what's wrong?" Cora asked a bit confused.

"Do you know this person?" Regina asked and showed Cora the still, who took it to examine a little better.

Regina went on to explain how they arrested this de Vil person and that she wasn't cooperating, even lying about the hitchhiking and everything. Cora gave her a sympathetic look, "Why did you even go with her? Someone with a face like that isn't trustworthy."

"Spare me the lecture, okay, mom. Do you know her or not?"

"No, don't even know where I should know her from."

Regina told her mother in a small voice how this de Vil person was also able to see her. "I don't know, dear, but it's high time people start being honest with you."

A look of puzzlement crossed Regina's face, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Zelena for one... did she tell you she took your racing gear and wanted to take over your lessons? And don't get me started on Kathryn who got herself arrested for selling drugs."

Regina's jaw hit the floor; she closed her mouth and hastily left the house.

~~~oOo~~~

On their way to the police station Special Agent Lucas received a phone call from the DA's office.

"Lucas." she answered, "uh huh... okay we're on our way."

She looked at Belle, "de Vil is a drug dealer."

"What?"

"Ecstacy."

Belle let out a low whistle and smiled widely, was this finally the break-through they needed?

At the same time Regina arrived at the police office, she heard Sheriff Nottingham's voice. Walking in the direction of the noise she could overhear what he was saying.

He was leaning into a wall with his back turned to Regina talking to Jeffrey, Kathryn's nephew. "Goddamnit, Jeffrey, I'm sick and tired of these games... Listen, we both know you bought the drugs from de Vil."

"I never said that." Jeffrey sounded angry.

"Yes, you did and that's exactly what you're going to tell Special Agent French."

Regina wasn't interested in the conversation; the only thing she was interested in was Kathryn's involvement. She still couldn't believe her best friend could be the reason she was drugged on the night of her murder. She slipped past Sheriff Keith and into the interrogation room. Kathryn was sitting on the windowsill but immediately noticed Regina's presence.

"Please, Regina, don't get mad."

"No, of course not." Regina replied. "I just want to know what happened."

Kathryn dropped her gaze to her lap and her shoulders hunched, "I was with my nephews when the police barged in and found the drugs."

"Nephews?"

"Yeah, sons of my father's brother. The 3 bears." Kathryn explained.

"Does one of them call you 'Goldilocks'?" Regina got up, suddenly feeling hot.

"Yeah, why?"

"Are you fucking kidding me, Kathryn! Those guys are involved with Cruella de Vil, the bitch that gave me a ride home on the night of my murder!"

"I honestly don't know anything about all that, I'm sorry." Kathryn pleaded genuinely with her friend.

"What were you even doing there?"

"I needed money."

"Drug money?"

"I didn't know that..." Kathryn shrugged.

"Tell me it wasn't you that gave me the drugs that night?"

"No, of course not!"

"Or your nephews?"

"Again no, you were with Zelena and Leo the entire night..." Kathryn's sentence was cut of by Sheriff and Officer Jones entering the interrogation room.

"You're in luck, the DA's forgiving... it seems." Sheriff said.

"You will get a fine, of course. Come, I'll bring you home." Officer Jones continued.

Kathryn grabbed her jacket and left with Killian. Sheriff watched her leave the room then smirked at Regina and got closer. "Are you glad we caught de Vil? We didn't have much but thanks to Jefferson's confession we're able to hold her a little longer."

"Is that why you deleted the footage?" Regina asked, suspicion growing once more.

"What do you think happens when a person like that sees herself on tv... but thanks to you we were able to find her and now the FBI can do their job."

"You're trying to manipulate me again." Regina said and ducked under Keith's arm to leave the room.

When she made it just out of the door, he added "Did anyone tell you you have some serious trust issues?" The brunette didn't answer him; she turned around and walked away.

~~~oOo~~~

Emma and Regina were walking side by side, the brunette had her hands deep inside her pockets, and her shoulders slumped. She was dragging her feet a little and Emma couldn't help but notice something was going on. Her normally talkative friend was also unusually quiet.

"Is everything alright?" Emma asked.

Regina just shrugged.

"I take it that as a 'no'." Emma continued.

"Hmm."

"They didn't release her, did they?" Emma asked, wondering if Cruella was somehow the reason of Regina's brooding mood.

"Nope, they've caught her. Thanks to your dad." Regina paused briefly, "I just don't get any of this you know... me being here..."

They stopped walking and turned to each other. Emma waited but when it was clear Regina wasn't going to continue she dropped her bike and said, "You know what I do whenever I get the feeling it's me against the world?"

They were standing very close and Regina didn't know who had initiated this closeness, not that it mattered. She was able to feel Emma's breath on her face and just that small thing made her pulse pick up a bit. Her eyes dropped involuntarily to Emma's lips and for a moment she expected to feel their obvious softness on hers.

However she didn't want to look too desperate so she looked back up to Emma's eyes and they briefly locked their gazes. A smirk formed on Emma's face before she moved and ran away from Regina screaming at the top of her lungs. It was a quick and forceful scream and the run was short, she turned around and watched Regina watching her with an amused expression on her face.

"Come on, it's your turn." The blonde said.

"My turn?"

"Of course!"

Regina embarrassedly looked left and right to make sure they were indeed alone and then ran towards Emma while screaming, feebly.

"Not bad, not bad, but you have to really feel the scream you know. It has to come from deep within you before you unleash it." The blonde pulled the brunette closer to her and added, "You have to really feel it, down here." With those words she placed her free hand on Regina's diaphragm.

Regina's breathing momentarily hitched and she was sure she felt that touch deep within her, much deeper than where she was supposed to feel it. "Together on three?" her voice was huskier than she had ever heard it.

"Okay, one... two... three..." they both started running but only Emma screamed, Regina was too busy laughing at the goofy blonde.

"Miss funny-pants, it's your turn now, okay." Emma said and linked arms with Regina and pulled her forward. This time they both screamed, repeating this the entire length of the field.

~~~oOo~~~

Sarah checked her watch for the umpteenth time and sighed. She crossed and uncrossed her legs nervously a couple of times before checking her watch yet again. She was sitting in the waiting area at Dr. Lucas and they were already five minutes late for the appointment, still there was no sign of either Keith or Emma. She wasn't surprised Keith hadn't showed but Emma was unexpected, the young woman had been very serious about her recovery and Sarah was worried something might have happened.

She took out her phone and dialed Emma's number but the call went straight to voicemail... "Emma? I'm calling because we had an appointment with Doctor Lucas... You're probably on your way, can you let me know something when you get this. Oh, try to reach Sheriff please because I can't reach him. Okay, bye."

Emma and Regina were sitting outside the trailer where they had built a small campfire to fight off the chilly night air. Emma's phone had died hours ago and was left charging inside. Sitting there with Regina had made her completely forget about her psychiatric appointment.

They were just watching the fire; at least Regina was Emma was mostly watching Regina watching the fire. Just looking at the brunette brought a smile to Emma's face and filled her with this warm feeling. She felt happier than she had in forever, making her wish she had met her before that fateful night.

"So, let's review..." Regina said. "What if de Vil didn't kill me, but just saw something?"

Emma thought about it, "You think we all just saw little pieces and together we are supposed to see the big picture that will eventually lead us to the killer?"

"Maybe..." Regina answered.

"Then you'll have to ask all of them."

"I don't know... they all act so weird around me, like they keep stuff from me." Regina said sullenly.

"I don't keep stuff from you..." Emma said and nudged her gently trying to lighten her mood.

"No, not you..."

Regina's mood wasn't improving much though, she was deep in thought Emma noticed. She was staring at Regina but the brunette was just staring in the distance. The blonde nudged her again and said, "Aren't you afraid you'll disappear when we solve this?"

This snapped Regina out of whatever funk she was in, she looked at Emma wide-eyed. She hadn't really considered this, and suddenly she was afraid of what that meant. Emma added, "Because I am..." before turning her gaze back to the brunette.

Their eyes locked, everything around them disappeared leaving only them in this moment. Regina smiled slightly, the thought of disappearing frightened her too but hearing those words out of Emma's mouth made her cheerful. The blonde really felt something for her, something deep. It sounded weird but it felt like they had known each other for years and this wasn't the first time Regina felt their connection.

She shifted her gaze to Emma's lips; Emma had licked them unconsciously. Her gaze traveled slowly back up and locked with Emma's again, her heart was hammering in her chest which was a weird sensation for someone who was supposed to be dead. What she felt was real and she had never wanted to be kissed more badly than by the blonde right now.

Emma was feeling similar things, besides being afraid she really wanted to kiss Regina... again, for real this time. She bit her lip briefly before closing the distance between them and softly but surely kissing Regina who was momentarily stunned but regained quickly and deepened the kiss tangling her hand in blonde locks pulling her impossibly closer. Emma put her arms around Regina and they both quickly lost themselves into the kiss.

Emma backed Regina up never breaking the kiss until Regina's back connected with the trailer door. With intense dark eyes she looked at Emma and said, "I have never done this..."

Emma smiled understandingly and kissed her softly, "I won't hurt you... unless you ask me to."

The little joke broke Regina's nervous tension and she hungrily kissed the blonde, who managed to open the door and maneuver them inside until they fell down in a heated tangle on the bed. Clothes disappeared quickly, hands and lips discovered new places while moans of pleasure spread far over the fields that surrounded them.

~~~oOo~~~

Keith Nottingham still hadn't answered his cell, he was still working. Officer Jones was driving and Sheriff was in the back with Cruella de Vil transporting her to jail. Sarah was livid, she called him again and this time let all her anger out. "You know what FUCK YOU and your stupid sister-in-law with her stupid B&B!" She assumed wrongly that Keith was at Mal's place helping her out again. Sarah frantically drove through the streets, nearly running over Henry but she was too angry to notice.

Henry furrowed his brow and quickly jumped out of the way, he shook his head at the driver's behavior but didn't think too much of it. He made his way over to Cora's house and rang the doorbell. A surprisingly sober Cora opened the door almost immediately. "Come in." She said gently.

Henry was hesitant, not sure why he was there in the first place but since Cora was at least making an effort to stay sober he agreed. Cora asked him if he wanted coffee and he nodded. A steaming cup was set in front of him before long and they both sat down at the kitchen table. They were engulfed by an awkward silence until Henry started talking about Regina; their child would always be something between them.

"It's just... it's not because Regina did all these things... that she was like that. I'm really trying to wrap my mind around it, to make sense of this all without judgment. Maybe she just used drugs for one time, drove off with a stranger this onetime..." his voice broke.

"I understand you..." Cora touched Henry's arm but quickly pulled back not wanting to give the wrong impression. "You just want to know, don't you? You want to understand who she was."

Tears were running down his face, "Sometimes I drive by the archery and just sit there... a couple of hours or half a day; just listening to the radio. To her favorite show." Henry cleared his throat and started to get up. "I should leave. Did you find the recipe between your cookbook?"

"No, Henry, to be honest I haven't searched for it yet."

"Then why am I here?" Henry was clearly upset.

"Wait, I wanted to tell you something about Regina." Cora earnestly replied.

"We haven't done anything else, Cora! Do you have any idea how difficult this has been for me... coming here, talking about her... with you?"

"I know and I'm sorry but there's something else." Cora said apologetically, "I don't really know how to tell you this but... Regina, our Regina, is still here."

"I know that, somewhere..."

"No no no, that's not what I meant..." Cora got up and grabbed a scrapbook from the cabinet, without saying anything she opened it searching for something. "Look, here."

Inside was a picture of Regina at Cora's table but when Henry looked at the picture all he saw was an empty chair.

"An empty picture?"

Cora was confused and thought Henry just didn't want to believe but she stayed remarkably calm, "Look, I know this is hard and it sounds questionable but sometimes Regina comes here to talk. She's really here."

Henry blinked a couple of times finding all of this extremely hard to believe, it confused him beyond reason. "What do you mean exactly?"

~~~oOo~~~

Zelena and Leo were in his room talking about their fathers, David and Robin.

"I understand now why you reacted like that." Zelena informed him.

"I assumed you already knew..."

Zelena shook her head and they both remained silent for a short while. "There's something else actually..." Zelena began, "BMX racing is not for me, I only wanted to be close to you. I assumed that by being more like Regina you would like me better. I know we cannot... I just don't want things to be weird between us."

Leo got up from the floor and sat down next to Zelena; he gently clutched her hand in his and said, "I like you better than Regina. You are friendlier, sweeter and more attractive. And I think we are a better match than Regina and I ever were."

Leo tried to close the distance between them but Zelena pulled back shyly. She wanted it yet something was blocking her, she tried to voice her fears but Leo assured her this was the right thing. He gently touched her cheek and pulled her into a warm kiss. The kiss quickly turned into uncertain touches until they both grew confident enough to shed their clothes... They were so lost in each other they had forgotten to close the blinds.

Sarah was creeping around the B&B stealthily; still convinced she was going to catch Keith and Mal in a heated state. When she noticed a light in one of the rooms and saw movement that looked suspiciously like people being intimate she took out her phone and gradually crept closer, filming the entire spectacle. When she realized she was not filming Keith and Mal but Leo and a redhead that looked like Zelena she stopped filming. She looked at her recording again and was surprised to see it was indeed Zelena and Leo in an intimate pose... Luckily they were both of age or she would have broken even more laws than she already had. Still, Sarah didn't erase the video... she put her phone away walked back to her car and went home.

~~~oOo~~~

Emma and Regina were lying in each other's arms, still very naked. They were both exhausted from their lovemaking and were just enjoying the feel of the other's skin on their own. Emma was slowly running a finger up and down Regina's arm and it was tingling in a most perfect way. If she had had the energy Regina would have touched Emma in all the places she knew the blonde liked and in places she had yet to discover but she couldn't. She turned her head and kissed Emma softly.

They were both just so happy and wanted to stay there forever, if the crime wasn't solved they could, couldn't they? But the blonde soon realized that thought was pathetic because no one could live like this, not even them. The realization hit her hard and with it she remembered she was supposed to be at Dr. Lucas's.

"Shit!" she grunted.

"What?" Regina asked confused.

"I forgot I had an appointment! My mom is going to be pissed..." Emma reluctantly got up and started to dress herself, "I should probably go home before she's worried, it's really late."

Regina understood but wasn't necessarily happy about the abrupt ending of this perfect moment. She dressed herself as well and said goodbye to Emma, careful not to let things get out of hand again.

She went to her mother's place because she wanted to be around someone who could see her. While Regina was getting in, Cora walked towards her and said "Finally you're here. I thought you would be here earlier, dear."

Regina was unsure of what was going on, why was her mother behaving more erratically than usual? She didn't get a chance to ask because Cora turned towards the kitchen and said in a loud voice, "Henry, it's okay. Regina is here."

"What the h..." Regina stormed into the kitchen and was surprised to find her dad sitting there.

Cora pulled her back and whispered "I have told your father everything and he's really looking forward to this. Can you understand how much he needs this?"

Regina visibly calmed down but was still appalled by the news; she went to the kitchen table and sat down next to her father who was talking to Cora "Look, I understand how much you want to believe this... need this even and it's okay."

Regina said, "Two eggs whisked together." And Cora repeated these words to Henry.

"Wha... what?"

"Add vanilla essence and cinnamon." Regina continued and again Cora repeated the words to Henry.

"And a bit of rum essence."

"That's it!" Henry said impressed, some part of him wanted to believe it yet another part was still doubtful. "Okay... What did I put on Sebastian's cake last year?"

Cora looked at Regina; she had heard the question so there was no need to repeat it. Regina only needed a second before answering, "To our sweet, little rascal but then you replaced rascal with piccolo."

Cora carefully repeated this to Henry whose smile grew wider while his eyes filled with fresh tears. He had no other choice than to believe Cora because there was no way she could have known this without Regina being there. Regina touched her father's arm and put her head on his shoulder in a loving embrace that she hoped he somehow was able to feel.

~~~oOo~~~

Somewhere in Darkton Officer Jones was still driving the police car with Cruella De Vil. Sheriff Nottingham was also there and everyone was sat in utter silence until Sheriff started coughing violently, gagging a little. "Fuck, Jonesie, did you fart?!"

"No, Sheriff, I swear I didn't... I think." Jones replied sheepishly. "I don't think we have any air refresher left either."

"Well, you know the rules... the one that did it, has to pay for it." Sheriff told him.

Jones shrugged and drove straight to a night shop to buy some air refresher. The fact that he hadn't smelled anything hadn't even occurred to him. He got out and Keith waited until he had disappeared inside the shop entirely before turning his attention to Cruella but she was the one to speak first.

"I was afraid you were going to let me rot in here, uncuff me, darling."

"And then what?" He asked her.

"What are we doing here if that wasn't the plan all along?" Cruella asked, growing more suspicious. "I need to make a phone call so they can come pick me up." She bent over and grabbed the SIM card which she had hidden in her shoe.

"Why would I consider letting you go?" Sheriff asked.

"What do you think will happen if I end up in jail, darling?" Cruella scoffed. "If I go down, you go down don't ever think otherwise."

Sheriff lunged forward, grabbed Cruella's collar and pulled her close "I don't respond well to threats, _darling._ " He spoke in a low tone before releasing her again.

"And I don't like that attitude of yours."

Sheriff pulled out his gun and pointed it at his captive, "Didn't you lose a necklace hanger? Did you really think you could change my mind by killing that girl in a hotel room?"

"I don't know what you think you know, but I have never set foot inside that hotel and you aren't going to frame me!" This time Cruella lunged forward and tried to get the gun but her still cuffed hands made it rather difficult and a struggle ensued.

Officer Jones had just decided which air refresher he wanted when a shot was heard.

* * *

 _ **I have read a lot of guesses and I can tell you some of you aren't that far of... of course #nospoilers is still in place ;-). Feel free to keep guessing, this time not only on who the killer might be but also who got shot?!**_

 _ **Reviews are always welcome too :-).**_


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